Adhyāya 177: Pañca-mahābhūta-vicāra and Vṛkṣa-jīva-lakṣaṇa
Five Elements Inquiry and the Status of Plant Life
तेषां परमदु:खानां बुद्धया भैषज्यमाचरेत् । लोकथर्ममवज्ञाय ध्रुवाणामध्रुवै: सह
teṣāṃ paramaduḥkhānāṃ buddhyā bhaiṣajyam ācaret | lokadharmam avajñāya dhruvāṇām adhruvaiḥ saha ||
それらの極重にして避けがたい苦に対しては、明らかな智慧をもって、ふさわしい治療(対治)を行うべきである。不安定なものに結びついた世俗の作法を軽んじ、朽ちゆく身とともに不確かなものへ執着するより、確かなもの(大いなる苦)を癒す道を求めよ。
भीष्म उवाच
Use discernment to address inevitable, profound suffering by seeking a true remedy (inner cure), and do not be ruled by conventional worldly pursuits and attachments that depend on impermanent things.
Bhishma, in his Shanti Parva instruction, advises the listener to turn from ordinary social preoccupations tied to the transient and instead apply thoughtful effort toward the remedy for the certain and recurring sorrows of embodied life.