Shloka 6
Adhyāya 177: Pañca-mahābhūta-vicāra and Vṛkṣa-jīva-lakṣaṇa
Five Elements Inquiry and the Status of Plant Life
न वै चरसि यच्छेय आत्मनो वा यदीशिषे । अकामात्मापि हि सदा धुरमुद्यम्य चैव ह,“तुम जो कामनारहित होकर भी अपने कल्याणका साधन नहीं कर रहे हो और मनको वशमें नहीं कर रहे हो, इसका कारण यही है कि तुमने राज्यका बोझा अपनेपर उठा रखा है
na vai carasi yac chreya ātmanaḥ vā yad īśiṣe | akāma-ātmā api hi sadā dhuram udyamya caiva ha ||
Bhishma said: “You do not pursue what is truly beneficial for yourself, nor do you master your own inner life. Though free from personal desire, you still continually shoulder the heavy burden of kingship—this is why your welfare and self-governance are not fully cultivated.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma highlights a tension between inner welfare (śreyaḥ) and external responsibility: even a desireless person can fail to cultivate self-mastery if overburdened by the weight of rulership. True ethical life requires not only dispassion but also deliberate pursuit of one’s highest good and governance of the mind.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma after the war, Bhīṣma addresses the king’s condition: despite being personally free from craving, the king remains weighed down by the ongoing responsibilities of the realm. Bhīṣma diagnoses this burden as the reason the king is not fully attending to his own spiritual-ethical welfare and inner discipline.