Shloka 26
त्रिवर्गविचारः
Tri-varga Deliberation: Dharma, Artha, Kāma
अभयं यस्य भूतेभ्यो भूतानामभयं यत: । तस्य देहाद् विमुक्तस्य भयं नास्ति कुतश्चन,जिसको दूसरे प्राणियोंसे भय नहीं है तथा जिससे दूसरे प्राणी भी भय नहीं मानते, उस देहाभिमानसे रहित महात्मा पुरुषको कहींसे भी भय नहीं प्राप्त होता
abhayaṁ yasya bhūtebhyo bhūtānām abhayaṁ yataḥ | tasya dehād vimuktasya bhayaṁ nāsti kutaścana ||
Bhishma said: He who causes no fear to any living being, and from whom no living being feels fear—when such a great-souled person is freed from identification with the body, fear cannot arise for him from anywhere at all.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Fearlessness is grounded in non-harming and in being non-threatening to others; when one abandons body-identification (dehābhimāna), fear has no foothold, because fear depends on clinging to the vulnerable body and its possessions.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira by describing the marks of a liberated, great-souled person—one who neither fears beings nor is feared by them, and who is free from bodily identification.