Shloka 63
Adhyātma–Adhibhūta–Adhidaivata Correspondences and the Triguṇa Lakṣaṇas (Śānti-parva 301)
पुण्यांश्व सात्त्विकान् गन्धान् स्पर्शजान् देहसंश्रितान् । छित्त्वा55शु ज्ञानशस्त्रेण तपोदण्डेन भारत
bhīṣma uvāca | puṇyāṁś ca sāttvikān gandhān sparśajān dehasaṁśritān | chittvāśu jñānaśastreṇa tapodaṇḍena bhārata ||
Bhishma said: “O Bharata, by swiftly cutting off—through the sword of true knowledge and the rod of austerity—the meritorious, sāttvic fragrances and the bodily, touch-born sensations that cling to the embodied state, the wise loosen their dependence on sense-experience. The ethical point is that even refined and ‘pure’ pleasures can bind when appropriated as ‘mine’; therefore the seeker disciplines both coarse and subtle attachments, using discernment and tapas to move toward freedom.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even ‘good’ or refined (sāttvic) sense-pleasures can become bondage when one clings to them. Liberation-oriented ethics therefore requires cutting attachment to sensory objects through discriminative knowledge (jñāna) supported by disciplined austerity (tapas).
In the Śānti Parva instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīṣma continues a renunciatory, Sāṅkhya-leaning analysis: the wise person uses insight and austerity to sever bodily-based sense attachments (here, smell and touch are highlighted) as part of the path toward freedom.