Shloka 36
श्रेयो-धर्मकर्मविचारः
Inquiry into Śreyas, Dharma, and Karma
शतं सहस्राणि चतुर्दशेह परागतिर्जीवगणस्य दैत्य | आरोहणं तत्कृतमेव विद्धि स्थान तथा नि:सरणं च तेषाम्,'दैत्यप्रवर! इस जगत्में समस्त जीव-समुदायकी परागति चौदह लाख बतायी गयी है। (पाँच कर्मन्द्रिय, पाँच ज्ञानेन्द्रिय तथा मन, बुद्धि, चित्त और अहंकार--ये चौदह करण हैं। इन्हींके भेदसे चौदह प्रकारकी गति होती है। फिर विषयभेदसे वृत्तिभेद होनेके कारण चौदह लाख प्रकारकी गति होती है।) जीवका जो ऊर्ध्वलोकोंमें गमन होता है, वह भी उन्हीं चौदह करणोंद्वारा सम्पादित होता है। विभिन्न स्थानोंमें जो स्थिरतापूर्वक निवास है, वह और उन स्थानोंसे जो उन जीवोंका अधःपतन होता है, वह भी उन्हींके सम्बन्धसे होता है। इस बातको तुम अच्छी तरह जान लो (अत: इन चौदह करणोंको सात्त्विक मार्गाभिमुखी बनाना चाहिये)
śataṁ sahasrāṇi caturdaśeha parāgatir jīvagaṇasya daitya | ārohaṇaṁ tatkṛtam eva viddhi sthānaṁ tathā niḥsaraṇaṁ ca teṣām ||
Bhīṣma said: O Daitya, the total range of transmigratory destinies for the multitude of living beings is here declared to be fourteen hundred thousand. Know that their ascent to higher worlds is accomplished through that very set of fourteen instruments; likewise, their abiding in particular stations and their departure or fall from those stations also occur in dependence upon them. Therefore, one should understand that the moral direction of these inner and outer faculties determines whether a being rises, remains, or declines.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A being’s rise to higher states, stability in a given state, and fall from it are governed by the functioning and moral orientation of the fourteen instruments (five sense-organs, five action-organs, and the inner faculties such as mind and intellect). Hence ethical discipline of these faculties is decisive for one’s destiny.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction during the Śānti Parva, he addresses a Daitya-lord and explains a cosmological-ethical account of how living beings experience many kinds of destinies, emphasizing that these outcomes depend on the operation of the senses and inner faculties.