Shloka 123
ब॒हस्पतिरुवाच इष्टं त्वनिष्टं च सुखासुखे च साशीस्त्ववच्छन्दति कर्मभिश्न | बृहस्पतिने कहा--भगवन्! सुख सबको अभीष्ट होता है और दुःख किसीको भी प्रिय नहीं होता। इष्टकी प्राप्ति और अनिष्टके निवारणके लिये जो कामना होती है, वही मनुष्योंसे कर्म करवाती है और उन कर्मोद्वारा उनका मनोरथ पूर्ण करती है; अत: कामनाको आप त्याज्य कैसे बताते हैं?
bṛhaspatir uvāca | iṣṭaṃ tv aniṣṭaṃ ca sukhāsukhe ca sāśīs tv avacchandati karmabhiḥ nṛṇām |
Bṛhaspati said: ‘O revered one, happiness is desired by all, and no one finds sorrow dear. The longing to obtain what is wished for and to ward off what is unwished for impels human beings into action, and through those actions their aims are fulfilled. How, then, do you declare desire to be something that should be abandoned?’
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a philosophical challenge: desire for pleasure and avoidance of pain are presented as the basic drivers of human action (karma). It questions how desire can be condemned as ‘to be abandoned’ when it appears to be the very force that initiates purposeful conduct and accomplishes aims.
Within Bhīṣma’s discourse, the text reports Bṛhaspati speaking. He argues that people naturally seek the desired (iṣṭa) and avoid the undesired (aniṣṭa), and that this wishing (āśīḥ) propels them into actions that fulfill their objectives—thereby challenging an earlier claim that desire should be renounced.