Shloka 37
Haṃsa–Sādhya Saṃvāda: Satya, Dama, Kṣamā and the Discipline of Speech
सुखदु:खे समे यस्य लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ | इच्छाद्वेषौ भयोद्वेगौ सर्वथा मुक्त एव सः,“जिसकी दृष्टिमें सुख-दुःख, लाभ-हानि, जय-पराजय सम है तथा जिसके इच्छा-द्वेष, भय और उद्वेग सर्वथा नष्ट हो गये हैं, वही मुक्त है”
sukha-duḥkhe same yasya lābhālābhau jayājayau | icchā-dveṣau bhayodvegau sarvathā mukta eva saḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “He alone is truly liberated whose vision remains even in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat—and in whom desire and aversion, fear and agitation have been completely extinguished.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation is characterized by steady equanimity toward opposites (pleasure/pain, gain/loss, victory/defeat) and by the complete cessation of inner afflictions such as desire, aversion, fear, and agitation.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction section, Bhīṣma is advising Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and the path to inner peace after the war, describing the marks of a truly liberated person.