Shloka 18
Śānti-parva 206: Guṇa-hetu Moha, Kāma-krodha Chain, Indriya-utpatti, and Nirodha
किंतु परब्रह्म परमात्मा इस प्रकार शरीरका आश्रय लेकर प्रकट होनेपर भी वेदाध्ययनकी भाँति यत्नसाध्य नहीं है; क्योंकि उनका आदि, मध्य और अन्त नहीं है ।। ऋचामादिस्तथा साम्नां यजुषामादिरुच्यते । अन्तश्वादिमतां दृष्टो न त्वादिर््रह्यण: स्मृत:
kintu parabrahma paramātmā evaṁ-vidhaṁ śarīrāśrayaṁ kṛtvā prakaṭībhūto ’pi vedādhyayanavat yatnasādhyo na bhavati; yato ’sya ādir madhyam antaś ca na vidyate. ṛcām ādis tathā sāmnāṁ yajuṣām ādir ucyate; antas tv ādimatāṁ dṛṣṭo na tv ādir brahmaṇaḥ smṛtaḥ.
Bhishma said: Yet the Supreme Brahman, the Paramatman, even when He becomes manifest by taking support of a body, is not something attained by effort in the way Vedic study is; for He has no beginning, no middle, and no end. The beginnings of the Ṛk, the Sāman, and the Yajus are spoken of, and the end of things that have a beginning is seen; but of Brahman no beginning is remembered.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Brahman/Paramatman is beginningless, endless, and not an object that can be reached merely by the kind of effort used in textual mastery; unlike finite things (and even Vedic corpora, which have identifiable beginnings), the Absolute is beyond temporal sequence and cannot be confined to origin–middle–end.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhishma continues teaching about the Supreme Reality. He contrasts the structured, effort-based acquisition of Vedic learning with the transcendence of Brahman, emphasizing that even when the Lord appears embodied, His true nature remains beyond temporal limits.