Shloka 15
Adhyāya 222 — ब्रह्मस्थानप्राप्ति: मोक्षधर्मे समत्वव्रतम्
Attaining the Brahman-Station: The Vow of Equanimity in Mokṣadharma
प्रह्नमादजी बोले--देवराज! जो प्राणियोंकी प्रवृत्ति और निवृत्तिको नहीं जानता, उसीको अविवेकके कारण स्तम्भ (जडता या मोह) होता है। जिसे आत्माका साक्षात्कार हो गया है, उसको कभी मोह नहीं होता ।।
devarāja! yo bhūtānāṁ pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca na jānāti, sa evāvivekāt stambhaṁ (jaḍatāṁ vā mohaṁ vā) prāpnoti. yasya tv ātma-sākṣātkāro jātaḥ, tasya kadācana moho na bhavati. svabhāvāt sampravartante nivartante tathaiva ca; sarve bhāvās tathābhāvāḥ; puruṣārtho na vidyate.
Prahlāda berkata: “Wahai raja para dewa! Barangsiapa tidak memahami pada makhluk hidup kecenderungan pravṛtti dan nivṛtti, dialah yang karena ketiadaan daya-beda jatuh ke dalam ‘stambha’—kekakuan, kebekuan, dan delusi. Tetapi bagi dia yang telah merealisasi Ātman, delusi tak pernah muncul. Segala keadaan ada dan tiada bergerak dan berhenti menurut kodratnya sendiri; mereka datang dan pergi dengan sendirinya. Maka, sebagai sebab tertinggi, tidak dapat diklaim adanya ‘usaha pribadi’ yang berdiri sendiri.”
प्रह्माद उवाच
Educational Q&A
Without discernment of pravṛtti (outward engagement) and nivṛtti (withdrawal), one falls into stambha—rigid dullness and delusion. Self-realization removes moha. The verse also stresses that arising and ceasing of states occur according to svabhāva (inherent nature), challenging the notion of absolute personal agency (puruṣārtha) as the final cause.
In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, Prahlāda addresses Devarāja (Indra) with a philosophical instruction: he contrasts the deluded person, who lacks discrimination, with the realized person, who is free from delusion, and frames worldly changes as movements of nature rather than as products of egoic control.