Shloka 18
मनुरुवाच — इन्द्रिय-मनः-ज्ञान-क्रमः
Manu on the hierarchy of senses, mind, and knowledge
अरागमोहो निर्दनद्धी न शोचति न सज्जते । न कर्ता कारणानां च न कार्याणामिति स्थिति:
arāgamohō nirdvanddhī na śocati na sajjate | na kartā kāraṇānāṁ ca na kāryāṇām iti sthitiḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : Celui qui est libre de passion et d’illusion, et qui a dépassé les paires d’opposés, ne s’afflige ni ne s’attache. Se voir comme n’étant ni l’auteur des causes ni l’agent des effets—tel est l’état établi de la stabilité intérieure.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches inner steadiness through detachment: freedom from attachment and delusion, transcendence of dualities, and a non-doer perspective in which one does not identify the self as the agent behind causes or effects—leading to non-grief and non-clinging.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and liberation-oriented conduct. Here he describes the marks of a stabilized, wise person—one who remains unshaken by opposites and does not appropriate actions and outcomes as ‘mine’.