Shloka 98
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
सांख्यज्ञानमधीयानो योगशास्त्रं च कृत्स्नश: । धर्माधर्म च राजेन्द्र प्राकृतं परिगर्हयन्
sāṅkhyajñānam adhīyāno yogaśāstraṃ ca kṛtsnaśaḥ | dharmādharmau ca rājendra prākṛtaṃ parigarhayan ||
Bhīṣma said: “Having studied the wisdom of Sāṅkhya and, in full, the discipline of Yoga, and having discerned both dharma and adharma, O best of kings, one should censure what is merely ‘natural’—the unrefined impulses of ordinary nature—when it runs contrary to righteousness.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
True ethical discernment arises from comprehensive study of Sāṅkhya (right understanding) and Yoga (right practice). With that discernment, one should not excuse harmful conduct as merely ‘natural’; instinct and habit must be judged and restrained by dharma.
In the Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs King Yudhiṣṭhira on righteous living and governance. Here he emphasizes that philosophical knowledge and yogic discipline together enable a king (and any person) to distinguish dharma from adharma and to reject crude, nature-driven tendencies when they conflict with moral duty.