Shloka 71
धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)
कृत्वा55त्मस्थानि भूतानि स्थावराणि चराणि च । एकाकी विद्यया सार्थ विहरिष्ये जगत् पुन:
kṛtvā ātmasthāni bhūtāni sthāvarāṇi carāṇi ca | ekākī vidyayā sārtha viharīṣye jagat punaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Ayant ramené en mon propre Soi tous les êtres — immobiles et mobiles —, je demeurerai seul ; et, n’ayant pour compagne que la puissance de la connaissance, je parcourrai de nouveau le monde désormais vide.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a mokṣa-oriented vision in which the ultimate reality (the Self) is the ground into which all beings can be reabsorbed. It emphasizes the supremacy of vidyā (spiritual knowledge) and solitude/renunciation: when multiplicity is resolved, the knower remains alone, sustained by knowledge rather than external supports.
Bhīṣma describes a cosmic dissolution-like moment: all moving and unmoving beings are gathered back into the Self, leaving an emptied world. In that state, he speaks of existing alone and ‘wandering’ with his power of knowledge—an image of the liberated or transcendent standpoint beyond ordinary social and worldly structures.