Shloka 49
जनक–सुलभा संवादः
Janaka–Sulabhā Dialogue on Mokṣa and Non-attachment
देवलोकं तथा तिर्यड्मनुष्यमपि चाश्रुते । यदि शुध्यति कालेन तस्मादज्ञानसागरात्,(उत्तीर्णोउस्मादगाधात् स परमाप्रोति शो भनम् ।) वह देव, मनुष्य और पशु-पक्षी आदिकी योनिमें भटकता रहता है। यदि कभी समयके अनुसार शुद्ध हो गया तो उस अगाध अज्ञानसमुद्रसे पार होकर परम कल्याणका भागी होता है
devalokaṃ tathā tiryag-manuṣyam api cāśrute | yadi śudhyati kālena tasmād ajñāna-sāgarāt (uttīrṇo 'smād agādhāt sa paramāpnoti śobhanam) ||
Bhīṣma expliqua : «Poussé par l’ignorance, un être renaît sans cesse parmi les dieux, les hommes et le règne animal. Si, en son temps, il se purifie—par la maturation de l’expérience et l’effacement progressif des souillures intérieures—alors il traverse cet océan d’ignorance, insondable, et atteint le bien suprême.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ignorance (ajñāna) keeps a being cycling through various births—divine, human, and animal. When purification matures in due time, the being can cross the ‘ocean of ignorance’ and attain the highest good, implying that liberation is tied to inner cleansing and right understanding rather than mere status of birth.
In Bhishma’s instruction during the Śānti Parva, he describes the condition of embodied existence: the jīva wanders through multiple realms and species. He then states the hopeful resolution—when the being becomes purified with time, it transcends the deep ignorance that caused wandering and reaches an auspicious, supreme state.