Shloka 177
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
स गार्हस्थ्याच्च्युतश्न त्वं मोक्ष चानाप्य दुर्विदम् । उभयोरन्तराले वै वर्तसे मोक्षवार्तिक:
sa gārhasthyāccyutaś ca tvaṃ mokṣaṃ cānāpya durvidam | ubhayor antarāle vai vartase mokṣavārtikaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: You have fallen away from the householder’s path, yet you have not attained that difficult-to-realize liberation. Thus you stand in the interval between the two—speaking of liberation, but not established in either settled worldly duty or true release.
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma criticizes a liminal, inconsistent stance: abandoning the responsibilities of the householder’s dharma without attaining genuine liberation. Ethical life requires integrity—either fulfill one’s rightful duties with discipline, or pursue renunciation in a way that truly leads toward realization, not merely talk about it.
In the instruction-heavy Shānti Parva, Bhīṣma addresses a listener’s conduct and spiritual claims. He points out that the person has left the gārhasthya way of life but has not reached mokṣa, and therefore remains suspended between worldly duty and true renunciation—functioning mainly as a ‘speaker of mokṣa’ rather than a practitioner established in a path.