Shloka 12
Adhyāya 159 — Dāna–Dakṣiṇā, Āpaddharma Measures, and Prāyaścitta Classifications
न संत्यजन्त्यात्मकर्म यो न जीर्य॑ति जीर्यत: । यो न पूरयितुं शक्यो लोभ: प्राप्त्या कुरूद्गबह
na santyajantyātmakarma yo na jīryati jīryataḥ | yo na pūrayituṃ śakyo lobhaḥ prāptyā kurūdgbaha ||
Bhīṣma said: Even as a man grows old, he does not abandon his own habitual pursuits; and greed, O bearer of the Kurus, is not something that can be filled or satisfied by obtaining things. The teaching is that age does not by itself cure attachment, and that acquisition only feeds craving rather than completing it.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Greed is intrinsically insatiable: no amount of acquisition can ‘fill’ it. Therefore ethical life requires restraint and discernment, not the hope that more possessions or successes will end craving.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and inner discipline after the war. Here he warns that even old age does not automatically loosen one’s habitual pursuits, and that greed persists unless consciously checked.