Shloka 46
अष्टौ च षष्टिं च शतानि चैव मनोनिरुद्धानि महाद्युतीनाम् । शुक्लस्य वर्णस्य परा गतिर्या त्रीण्येव रुद्धानि महानुभाव,“महानुभाव वृत्रासुर! प्रकृति, महत्तत््व, अहंकार और पंचतन्मात्राएँ--ये आठ, तथा दूसरे साठ- तत्त्व और इनकी जो सैकड़ों वृत्तियाँ हैं--ये सब महातेजस्वी योगियोंके मनके द्वारा अवरुद्ध की हुई होती हैं तथा सत्त्व, रज और तम--इन तीनों गुणोंको भी वे अवरुद्ध कर देते हैं। अतः शुक्लवर्णवाले (सनकादिकोंके समान सिद्ध) पुरुषको जो उत्तम गति प्राप्त होती है, वही उन योगियोंको मिलती है
aṣṭau ca ṣaṣṭiṃ ca śatāni caiva manoniruddhāni mahādyutīnām | śuklasya varṇasya parā gatir yā trīṇy eva ruddhāni mahānubhāva ||
Bhishma said: The eight principles, the sixty, and even the hundreds of their mental modifications are restrained by the mind of the great-lustrous yogins. They also restrain the three guṇas—sattva, rajas, and tamas. Therefore, the supreme goal attained by the “white” (pure, luminous) order of perfected beings is the very same highest state reached by those yogins who have mastered such restraint.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation is presented as the result of profound inner restraint: the yogin stills the proliferating categories of experience (tattvas and their many operations) and even transcends the three guṇas. When the guṇas are checked, one reaches the highest ‘pure’ state—an ethical ideal of mastery over desire, agitation, and inertia.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on peace and liberation, Bhishma explains to his listener that accomplished yogins control the mind so completely that the entire field of principles and mental modifications becomes subdued; by restraining even sattva, rajas, and tamas, they attain the same supreme destination attributed to the ‘white/pure’ perfected order.