Shloka 78
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
आत्मज्ञानमिदं ज्ञान ज्ञात्वा पज्चस्ववस्थितम् । य॑ं ज्ञानेनाभिगच्छन्ति तस्मै ज्ञानात्मने नम:
Bhīṣma uvāca: ātmajñānam idaṃ jñānaṃ jñātvā pañca-svavasthitam | yaṃ jñānenābhigacchanti tasmai jñānātmane namaḥ ||
Bhishma said: Having understood this knowledge of the Self—known as abiding within the fivefold condition (the five sheaths)—the learned, through purified insight, attain That. To that Supreme Reality whose very nature is Knowledge, I bow.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
True liberation-oriented wisdom is Self-knowledge: discerning the innermost Self as present through the five sheaths (often understood as annamaya, prāṇamaya, manomaya, vijñānamaya, ānandamaya) and, by purified insight, reaching Brahman whose nature is pure consciousness/knowledge.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction section, Bhishma continues his discourse on dharma and the highest good. Here he offers a reverential conclusion to a teaching on inner realization, saluting the supreme principle attained by the wise through Self-knowledge.