Shloka 10
Vimokṣa-niścaya: Pañcaśikha’s Analysis of Aggregates, Guṇas, and Tyāga (मोक्षनिर्णयः)
स्पर्शरूपरसाद्येषु सड़ं गच्छन्ति बालिशा: । नावगच्छन्त्यविज्ञानादात्मानं पार्थिवं गुणम्,अज्ञानी पुरुष स्पर्श, रूप और रस आदि विषयोंमें आसक्त होते हैं। वे विशिष्ट ज्ञानसे रहित होनेके कारण यह नहीं जानते हैं कि यह शरीर पृथ्वीका विकार है
sparśarūparasādyeṣu ṣaḍaṁ gacchanti bāliśāḥ | nāvagacchanty avijñānād ātmānaṁ pārthivaṁ guṇam ||
Bhīṣma said: The foolish run after the sixfold field of sense-objects—touch, form, taste, and the rest. Lacking discriminative knowledge, they do not recognize the self as conditioned by the earthly (material) quality, mistaking what is merely a transformation of the elements for their true nature.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Attachment to sense-objects arises from ignorance; without discernment one identifies the self with the material body (an elemental, ‘earthly’ modification). The ethical thrust is toward sense-restraint and right knowledge as prerequisites for liberation-oriented living.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and inner discipline, Bhīṣma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira by diagnosing the root of bondage: the undiscerning chase sensory pleasures and fail to understand the body’s elemental nature and the need for discriminative insight.