Shloka 18
एतान् शोकभयोत्सेकान् मोहनान् सुखदुःखयो: । पश्यामि साक्षिवल्लोके देहस्यास्य विचेष्टनात्,शोक, भय और अभिमान--ये प्राणियोंको सुख-दुःखमें डालकर मोहित करनेवाले हैं; इसलिये जबतक यह शरीर चेष्टा कर रहा है, तबतक मैं इन सबको साक्षीकी भाँति देखता हूँ
etān śokabhayotsekān mohanān sukhaduḥkhayoḥ | paśyāmi sākṣivalloke dehasyāsya viceṣṭanāt ||
I behold, as a mere witness in this world, these forces—grief, fear, and pride—which delude beings by casting them into pleasure and pain. So long as this body continues its movements and activity, I watch all these states without identifying with them.
समड़ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Grief, fear, and pride are identified as deluding mental forces that bind one to the oscillation of pleasure and pain. The instruction is to cultivate the stance of a witness (sākṣivat): observe these states as phenomena arising with bodily and mental activity, without taking them as the Self.
In the didactic discourse of Śānti Parva, the speaker (Samada) describes an inner discipline: while the body continues to act in the world, he maintains detached awareness, watching emotions and egoic surges as they arise, rather than being driven by them.