Shloka 22
धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)
सत्त्वं रजस्तमश्वैव न गुणास्तं भजन्ति वै । यश्न सर्वगतः साक्षी लोकस्यात्मेति कथ्यते
sattvaṁ rajas tamaś caiva na guṇās taṁ bhajanti vai | yaś ca sarvagataḥ sākṣī lokasyātmeti kathyate ||
ਭੀਸ਼ਮ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ—ਸਤ੍ਵ, ਰਜ ਅਤੇ ਤਮ—ਇਹ ਗੁਣ ਉਸ ਪਰਮਾਤਮਾ ਨੂੰ ਨਹੀਂ ਛੂਹਦੇ। ਉਹ ਸਰਵਵਿਆਪੀ, ਸਾਕਸ਼ੀ ਅਤੇ ਲੋਕ ਦਾ ਆਤਮਾ ਕਿਹਾ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The Supreme Self (Ātman/Brahman) is beyond prakṛti and its three guṇas. He is the all-pervading Witness and the Self of the world—unchanging, imperishable, and ultimately to be realized as Vāsudeva.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation and right understanding, Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira about the nature of the highest reality: not an object of the senses, not shaped by the guṇas, but the inner Witness that underlies the world.