Shloka 31
Vimokṣa-niścaya: Pañcaśikha’s Analysis of Aggregates, Guṇas, and Tyāga (मोक्षनिर्णयः)
अथवा बुद्धिको वशमें करनेके लिये शास्त्रविहित मन्त्रयुक्त यज्ञादि कर्मको कुछ लोग दोषयुक्त बताते हैं; परंतु वह मन्त्रयुक्त यज्ञादि धर्म भी निष्कामभावसे किये जानेपर वैराग्यका हेतु है। तथा शुद्ध धर्म--शम, दम आदिके निरन्तर पालनमें भी वही निमित्त बनता है ।।
athavā buddhiko vaśaṃ meṃ karane ke liye śāstravihita mantrayukta yajñādi karmako kucha loga doṣayukta batāte haiṃ; paraṃtu vah mantrayukta yajñādi dharma bhī niṣkāmabhāvase kiye jāne para vairāgyakā hetu hai. tathā śuddha dharma—śama, dama ādike nirantara pālanameṃ bhī vahī nimitta banatā hai. rajasātha dharmayuktāni kāryāṇyapi samāprute. arthayuktāni cātyartha kāmān sarvāśva sevate.
ビーシュマは説く。ある者たちは、経典に定められ真言を伴う祭式—たとえば供犠（yajña）—を、知性を制するために用いるとき殊に「欠陥あるもの」として非難する。だが、それらの儀礼的義務が私益を求めぬ無欲の心で行われるなら、まさにそれ自体が離欲（vairāgya）の因となり、執着から背を向けさせる。さらに同様に、それは清浄なるダルマ—心の静まりと感官の制御（śama、dama など）—を絶えず実践することを支える。これに対し、人がラジャス（rajas）の支配に落ちると、たとえその営みであっても不義と利己の目的に絡め取られ、激しい執着をもって快楽に耽溺する。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Scripturally prescribed, mantra-based ritual actions are not inherently obstacles; when performed without desire for personal reward, they can cultivate detachment and support inner disciplines like śama (mental restraint) and dama (sense-control). Conversely, when dominated by rajas, a person’s actions become mixed with self-interest and drift toward adharma and compulsive enjoyment.
In Bhishma’s instruction to Yudhishthira in the Śānti Parva, he contrasts two orientations to action: (1) ritual and duty performed in a desireless spirit that purifies and steadies the mind, and (2) action driven by rajas, which turns even ordinary undertakings into pleasure- and profit-centered behavior, leading to moral decline.