Shloka 18
Rājā–Rāja-Śabda-Prabhavaḥ — The Origin and Rationale of Kingship and Daṇḍanīti
भरतभूषण! कर्तव्याकर्तव्यका ज्ञान नष्ट हो जानेपर मोहके वशीभूत हुए सब मनुष्य लोभके अधीन हो गये ।। अप्राप्तस्याभिमर्श तु कुर्वन्तो मनुजास्तत: । कामो नामापरस्तत्र प्रत्यपद्यत वै प्रभो,फिर जो वस्तु उन्हें प्राप्त नहीं थी, उसे पानेका वे प्रयत्न करने लगे। प्रभो! इतनेहीमें वहाँ काम नामक दूसरे दोषने उन्हें घेर लिया
bhīṣma uvāca | bharatabhūṣaṇa! kartavyākartavyajñāne naṣṭe moha-vaśībhūtāḥ sarve manuṣyā lobha-vaśaṃ gatāḥ || aprāptasyābhimarśaṃ tu kurvanto manuṣyās tataḥ | kāmo nāmāparaḥ tatra pratyapadyata vai prabho ||
Bhishma said: “O ornament of the Bharata line! When discernment of what ought to be done and what ought not to be done is lost, all people, overpowered by delusion, fall under the sway of greed. Then, striving after what they have not obtained, they begin to scheme and reach for it; and at that very point, O lord, another fault—called desire—comes upon them and takes hold.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When moral discernment (knowing duty vs. forbidden action) collapses, delusion follows; delusion enables greed, and greed leads people to chase the unattained, whereupon desire (kāma) further entangles them. The verse maps a chain of ethical downfall and implies the need for vigilance and self-restraint.
In Bhishma’s instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira in the Śānti Parva, he explains how human beings slide into wrongdoing: first losing clarity about right and wrong, then becoming deluded and greedy, then actively grasping for what they do not have, and finally being seized by desire as an additional corrupting force.