Shloka 128
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
यद्यात्मनि परस्मिंक्षु समतामध्यवस्यसि । अथ मां कासि कस्येति किमर्थमनुपृच्छसि,यदि आप अपनेमें और दूसरेमें भी समभाव रखते हैं तो मुझसे बारंबार क्यों पूछते हैं कि “आप कौन हैं और किसकी हैं?”
yady ātmani parasmiṁś ca samatām adhyavasyasi | atha māṁ kāsi kasye ti kim artham anupṛcchasi ||
Bhīṣma berkata: “Jika engkau benar-benar telah menetapkan untuk melihat Ātman yang sama dalam dirimu dan dalam diri orang lain, mengapa engkau terus-menerus menyoalku—‘Siapakah engkau, dan milik siapakah engkau?’ Apakah tujuan pertanyaan yang berulang itu?”
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
True equanimity (samatā) toward self and others makes social labels of identity and possession—‘who are you’ and ‘whose are you’—secondary. Bhishma challenges the inconsistency between professed equal vision and continued fixation on personal identification.
In the Shanti Parva’s instructional setting, Bhishma responds to a questioner who repeatedly asks about his identity and affiliation. He points out that if the questioner genuinely maintains equal regard toward self and others, such repeated probing into personal identity is unnecessary.