Shloka 266
जनक–पराशर संवादः — वर्ण-गोत्र-धर्मविचारः
Janaka–Parāśara: Varṇa, Gotra, and Dharma Inquiry
लिज्रानि रजसस्तानि दृश्यन्ते हेत्वहेतुभि: । जब शरीर या मनमें किसी कारणसे या अकारण ही दाह, शोक, संताप, अपूर्णता (लोभ-लिप्सा) और असहनशीलताके भाव दिखायी देते हों तो उन्हें रजोगुणके चिह्न समझना चाहिये
liṅgāni rajasas tāni dṛśyante hetv-ahetubhiḥ |
Bhishma said: Those are the marks of the quality of rajas: when, in the body or in the mind, one sees burning agitation, grief, torment, a sense of lack expressed as craving and acquisitiveness, and intolerance—arising either from some cause or even without any apparent cause—one should understand them as signs of rajas.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma defines how to recognize rajas in lived experience: agitation and heat in body/mind, sorrow and distress, craving born of a sense of insufficiency, and intolerance. Even when these arise without a clear external trigger, they still indicate the dominance of rajas and thus call for restraint and inner regulation.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and inner discipline, Bhishma continues his analysis of the three guṇas. Here he identifies observable psychological and somatic indicators by which one can diagnose rajas operating within oneself.