Shloka 85
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
इच्छाद्वेष भवैर्दु:खै: प्रकर्षो यत्र जायते । तत्र या नृपते वृत्तिस्तत् प्रयोजनमिष्यते
icchādveṣa-bhavaiḥ duḥkhaiḥ prakarṣo yatra jāyate | tatra yā nṛpate vṛttis tat prayojanam iṣyate, nareśvara ||
Bhīṣma said: O king, wherever a predominance arises among the sufferings born of desire or aversion, the particular mental tendency (vṛtti) that then comes to the fore is what is regarded as one’s prayojana (purpose), O lord of men.
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma explains that what we call a person’s ‘purpose’ is often the dominant impulse that arises when desire or aversion generates suffering; the strongest pain-condition shapes the mind’s prevailing tendency (vṛtti), and that tendency functions as the operative aim (prayojana).
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs the king on dharma and inner discipline. Here he analyzes how desire and hatred produce suffering and how, in response, a particular disposition becomes dominant—clarifying the psychological basis of human aims and conduct.