Shloka 179
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
वर्णाश्रमा: पृथक्त्वेन दृष्टार्थस्यापृथक्त्विन: । नान्यदन्यदिति ज्ञात्वा नान्यदन्यत्र वर्तते
varṇāśramāḥ pṛthaktvena dṛṣṭārthasyāpṛthaktvinaḥ | nānyad anyad iti jñātvā nānyad anyatra vartate ||
ビーシュマは言った。「ヴァルナとアーシュラマ（身分と人生段階）は、たしかに別々のものとして説かれている。だが真理を直証し、不二の智に安住する者は、『他なるもの、分かれたものは存在しない』と知り、自己（アートマン）以外に何ものもなく、いかなる『他』の中にも真の『他』は見いだされぬという洞察をもって一切を行う。かかる者には、異なる何ものかとの実在的な結合は起こり得ない。ゆえに、その知者に“ヴァルナの混淆”（varṇa-saṅkara）の咎は生じない。」
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma distinguishes between conventional social distinctions (varṇa and āśrama) and the standpoint of realized non-dual knowledge. For the Self-realized person who sees no true ‘other,’ notions like ‘mixture’ or ‘contamination’ based on difference lose their footing, because they presuppose real separateness.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhīṣma explains to the listener that while social duties are taught in differentiated form for worldly order, the knower of Brahman transcends difference-based judgments; hence accusations such as varṇa-saṅkara do not apply to one established in non-dual realization.