Shloka 10
लोभप्रभवमज्ञानं वृद्ध भूय: प्रवर्धते । स्थाने स्थान क्षये क्षैण्यमुपैति विविधां गतिम्,लोभसे ही अज्ञान प्रकट होता है और लोभके बढ़नेपर वह अज्ञान और भी बढ़ता है। जबतक लोभ रहता है, तबतक अज्ञान भी बना रहता है और जब लोभका क्षय होता है, तब अज्ञान भी क्षीण हो जाता है। अज्ञान और लोभके कारण ही जीव नाना प्रकारकी योनियोंमें जन्म लेता है
lobhaprabhavam ajñānaṁ vṛddha bhūyaḥ pravardhate | sthāne sthāna-kṣaye kṣaiṇyam upaiti vividhāṁ gatim |
Bhishma said: Ignorance is born of greed, and as greed grows, that ignorance increases all the more. So long as greed remains, ignorance persists; and when greed is worn away, ignorance too dwindles. Driven by greed and ignorance, the embodied being passes into many different courses of existence, taking birth in diverse wombs.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Greed (lobha) is presented as a root-cause that generates and nourishes ignorance (ajñāna). As greed intensifies, discernment is further obscured; when greed is reduced, ignorance correspondingly diminishes. Therefore, ethical self-restraint and the curbing of greed are framed as practical means toward clarity and liberation.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhīṣma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira by analyzing inner causes of bondage. Here he explains the causal chain by which lobha sustains ajñāna and, together, they propel the jīva through diverse births and destinies (vividhā gati).