Shloka 16
प्रजापतयः देवगणाश्च दिशि-दिशि स्थिताः ऋषयः
Prajāpatis, Deva-Groups, and the Ṛṣis Assigned to the Directions
स्वेनात्मना चक्षुरिव प्रणेता निशात्यये तमसा संवृतात्मा । ज्ञानं तु विज्ञानगुणेन युक्त कर्माशुभं पश्यति वर्जनीयम्,जब रात बीत जाती है और अन्धकारका आवरण हट जाता है, उस समय जैसे चलनेमें प्रवृत्त करनेवाला नेत्र अपने तैजस् स्वरूपसे युक्त हो रास्तेमें पड़े हुए त्यागने योग्य काँटे आदिको देखते हैं, उसी प्रकार बुद्धि भी मोहका पर्दा हट जानेपर ज्ञानके प्रकाशसे युक्त हो त्यागने योग्य अशुभ कर्मको देखती है
bhīṣma uvāca | svenātmanā cakṣur iva praṇetā niśātyaye tamasā saṃvṛtātmā | jñānaṃ tu vijñānaguṇena yuktaṃ karmāśubhaṃ paśyati varjanīyam |
Bhishma said: When the night has ended and the self is no longer wrapped in darkness, the inner guide—like the eye empowered by its own light—discerns what lies on the path and recognizes what must be avoided, such as thorns. In the same way, when delusion’s veil is lifted, the intellect, illumined by true knowledge joined with discriminative understanding, perceives unwholesome actions as things to be renounced.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When ignorance and delusion recede, knowledge combined with discriminative understanding enables the intellect to recognize unethical or harmful actions as avoidable—just as the eye, once darkness is gone, can see thorns on the road and steer clear of them.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction to Yudhishthira, Bhishma continues a moral-philosophical explanation: he uses a dawn-and-vision simile to show how the mind, once freed from the darkness of moha, clearly perceives which actions are to be renounced.