Shloka 16
मोक्षधर्मः — स्नेहपाशच्छेदः
Mokṣa-dharma: Cutting the Bonds of Attachment
अभ्यस्तं भौतिकं पश्यन् भूतानामागतिं गतिम् । निःस्पृह: समदर्शी च पक््वापक्वेन वर्तयन् । आत्मना य: प्रशान्तात्मा लघ्वाहारो जितेन्द्रिय:
abhyastaṃ bhautikaṃ paśyan bhūtānām āgatiṃ gatiṃ | niḥspṛhaḥ samadarśī ca pakvāpakvena vartayan | ātmanā yaḥ praśāntātmā laghvāhāro jitendriyaḥ ||
Bhishma said: “One who has trained himself to observe the material world, watching the coming and going of beings—their arrivals and departures—becomes free from craving and even-sighted. Moving among the mature and the immature alike without partiality, such a person is inwardly tranquil, moderate in food, and master of the senses.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Cultivate disciplined observation of worldly change—beings continually arrive and depart. From this insight arises detachment (niḥspṛhatā), impartial vision (samadarśitā), and steady conduct toward both the mature and immature, supported by serenity, moderation in food, and mastery of the senses.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhishma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira by describing the marks of a spiritually mature person: one who sees the transient flow of embodied life and therefore lives without craving, with equal regard, and with disciplined self-restraint.