Shloka 123
प्रजापतयः देवगणाश्च दिशि-दिशि स्थिताः ऋषयः
Prajāpatis, Deva-Groups, and the Ṛṣis Assigned to the Directions
ब॒हस्पतिरुवाच इष्टं त्वनिष्टं च सुखासुखे च साशीस्त्ववच्छन्दति कर्मभिश्न | बृहस्पतिने कहा--भगवन्! सुख सबको अभीष्ट होता है और दुःख किसीको भी प्रिय नहीं होता। इष्टकी प्राप्ति और अनिष्टके निवारणके लिये जो कामना होती है
bṛhaspatir uvāca | iṣṭaṃ tv aniṣṭaṃ ca sukhāsukhe ca sāśīs tv avacchandati karmabhiḥ nṛṇām |
Bṛhaspati disse: “Ó venerável, a felicidade é desejada por todos, e ninguém tem a tristeza por querida. O anseio de obter o que se deseja e de afastar o que não se deseja impele os seres humanos à ação, e por meio dessas ações seus intentos se cumprem. Como, então, declaras que o desejo deve ser abandonado?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a philosophical challenge: desire for pleasure and avoidance of pain are presented as the basic drivers of human action (karma). It questions how desire can be condemned as ‘to be abandoned’ when it appears to be the very force that initiates purposeful conduct and accomplishes aims.
Within Bhīṣma’s discourse, the text reports Bṛhaspati speaking. He argues that people naturally seek the desired (iṣṭa) and avoid the undesired (aniṣṭa), and that this wishing (āśīḥ) propels them into actions that fulfill their objectives—thereby challenging an earlier claim that desire should be renounced.