Shloka 43
जनक–सुलभा संवादः
Janaka–Sulabhā Dialogue on Mokṣa and Non-attachment
भीष्मजी कहते हैं--महाराज! महर्षि वसिष्ठके बताये अनुसार यह परब्रह्मका स्वरूप मैंने तुम्हें बताया है, जिसे पाकर जीवात्मा फिर इस संसारमें नहीं लौटता ।। पुनरावत्तिमाप्रोति परं ज्ञानमवाप्य च | नावबुध्यति तत्त्वेन बुध्यमानो$डजरामरम्,जो इस उत्तम ज्ञानको गुरुके मुखसे पाकर भी भलीभाँति समझता नहीं है, वह पुनरावृत्ति (बारंबार आवागमन) को प्राप्त होता है और जो इसे तत्त्वतः समझ लेता है, वह जरा-मृत्युसे रहित परब्रह्म परमात्माको प्राप्त होता है
bhīṣma uvāca—mahārāja! maharṣi-vaśiṣṭhena yathoktaṃ para-brahmaṇaḥ svarūpaṃ mayā te kathitam; yat prāpya jīvātmā punar asmin saṃsāre na nivartate. punarāvṛttim āpnoti paraṃ jñānam avāpya ca | nāvabudhyati tattvena budhyamāno 'jarāmaram || yaḥ etad uttamaṃ jñānaṃ guroḥ mukhāt prāpya api samyak na avabudhyate sa punarāvṛttiṃ prāpnoti; yaḥ tu etat tattvataḥ avabudhyate sa jarā-mṛtyu-rahitaṃ para-brahma-paramātmānaṃ prāpnoti.
Bhishma said: “O King, I have explained to you—just as the great sage Vasiṣṭha taught—the nature of the Supreme Brahman. Having attained That, the individual self does not return again to this worldly cycle. Even after obtaining the highest knowledge, one who fails to grasp it in its true essence falls back into repeated return; but one who understands it as it really is attains the Supreme Self, Brahman, beyond aging and death.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation depends not merely on hearing or acquiring ‘highest knowledge’ but on realizing it in truth (tattvataḥ). Without true understanding, one returns to saṃsāra; with true realization, one attains the deathless, ageless Supreme Brahman.
In the Śānti Parva instruction scene, Bhīṣma continues advising King Yudhiṣṭhira, citing the authority of the sage Vasiṣṭha. He summarizes the fruit of Brahman-knowledge: true realization ends rebirth, while superficial or incomplete understanding leads to continued recurrence.