Shloka 1
Vimokṣa-niścaya: Pañcaśikha’s Analysis of Aggregates, Guṇas, and Tyāga (मोक्षनिर्णयः)
ऑपन-मा_ज बक। अं कऋाा-ज द्वादर्शाधिकद्विशततमो< ध्याय: निषिद्ध आचरणके त्याग, सत्त्व, रज और तमके कार्य एवं परिणामका तथा सत्त्वगुणके सेवनका उपदेश भीष्म उवाच प्रवृत्तिलक्षणो धर्मो यथा समुपलभ्यते । तेषां विज्ञाननिष्ठानामन्यत्तत्त्वं न रोचते,भीष्मजी कहते हैं--राजन्! कर्मनिष्ठ पुरुषोंको जिस प्रकार प्रवृत्तिधर्मकी उपलब्धि होती है--वही उन्हें अच्छा लगता है, उसी प्रकार जो ज्ञानमें निष्ठा रखनेवाले हैं, उन्हें ज्ञानके सिवा दूसरी कोई वस्तु अच्छी नहीं लगती
bhīṣma uvāca | pravṛttilakṣaṇo dharmo yathā samupalabhyate | teṣāṃ vijñāna-niṣṭhānām anyat tattvaṃ na rocate ||
Bhīṣma said: O King, just as men devoted to action find fulfillment in the dharma marked by worldly engagement, so too those firmly established in true knowledge find nothing else pleasing apart from that knowledge.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma contrasts two orientations: those committed to action naturally value a dharma of engagement (pravṛtti), while those committed to discriminative knowledge (vijñāna) find ultimate value only in truth itself (tattva), not in alternative goals or pursuits.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction to Yudhishthira, Bhishma continues a discourse on ethical life and liberation-oriented understanding, explaining how different temperaments—action-centered and knowledge-centered—gravitate toward different forms of dharma.