Shloka 50
जनक–सुलभा संवादः
Janaka–Sulabhā Dialogue on Mokṣa and Non-attachment
अज्ञानसागरो घोरो हाव्यक्तोड्गाध उच्यते । अहन्यहनि मज्जन्ति यत्र भूतानि भारत,भरतनन्दन! अज्ञानरूपी समुद्र अव्यक्त, अगाध और भयंकर बताया जाता है। इसमें असंख्य प्राणी प्रतिदिन गोते खाते रहते हैं
ajñānasāgaro ghoro hy avyaktodgāḍha ucyate | ahany ahani majjanti yatra bhūtāni bhārata ||
Bhishma said: “The ocean of ignorance is described as dreadful—unmanifest and unfathomably deep. In it, O Bharata, living beings plunge and sink day after day.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ignorance is portrayed as a vast, terrifying, and unfathomable ocean; without true discernment (jñāna), beings repeatedly sink into delusion and suffering. The verse urges the cultivation of right knowledge and clarity as the ethical-spiritual remedy.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and liberation-oriented wisdom. Here he uses a metaphor—an ‘ocean of ignorance’—to describe the condition in which beings are continually overwhelmed, setting up the need for teachings that lead beyond confusion toward steadiness and insight.