Shloka 15
पापात्म-धर्मात्म-लक्षणम् तथा निर्वेदेन मोक्षमार्गः | Marks of the Sinful and the Righteous; Dispassion (Nirveda) as a Path to Liberation
सोऊहं मात्रा स्वयं पित्रा पुत्रत्वे प्रकृत: पुनः । विज्ञानं मे कथं न स्याद् द्वौ बुद्धये चात्मसम्भवम्
so 'haṃ mātrā svayaṃ pitrā putratve prakṛtaḥ punaḥ | vijñānaṃ me kathaṃ na syād dvau buddhaye cātma-sambhavam ||
Bhishma said: “I was brought forth as a son by my mother and by my father—each in their own way. Therefore I regard both of them as the causes of my birth. How could such understanding not remain firmly established in me—that from these two arise my very capacity for discernment and my embodied existence?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse affirms gratitude and ethical recognition of both parents as true causes of one’s birth and formation. It links one’s stable understanding (vijñāna) and discernment (buddhi) to acknowledging these foundational sources, reinforcing filial dharma and clarity about causality.
Bhishma, while instructing in the Shanti Parva’s didactic setting, speaks in the first person to justify why his conviction remains steady: he was made a son through both mother and father, so he naturally regards both as the origin of his embodied existence and capacity for understanding.