Shloka 36
श्रेयो-धर्मकर्मविचारः
Inquiry into Śreyas, Dharma, and Karma
शतं सहस्राणि चतुर्दशेह परागतिर्जीवगणस्य दैत्य | आरोहणं तत्कृतमेव विद्धि स्थान तथा नि:सरणं च तेषाम्
śataṁ sahasrāṇi caturdaśeha parāgatir jīvagaṇasya daitya | ārohaṇaṁ tatkṛtam eva viddhi sthānaṁ tathā niḥsaraṇaṁ ca teṣām ||
भीष्म उवाच— दैत्य! इह जीवगणस्य परागतिः शतं सहस्राणि चतुर्दशैवोच्यते। तेषामारोहणं ऊर्ध्वलोकेषु तैरेव चतुर्दशभिः करणैः संपद्यते; तथा तेषु तेषु स्थानेषु स्थितिः, तेषां च ततो नि:सरणं पतनं वा, तदपि तेषामेवाधीनम्। अतः एतेषां बाह्यान्तरकरणानां यथावृत्तिः सैवोन्नतिं स्थितिं वा पतनं च नियच्छतीति विद्धि।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A being’s rise to higher states, stability in a given state, and fall from it are governed by the functioning and moral orientation of the fourteen instruments (five sense-organs, five action-organs, and the inner faculties such as mind and intellect). Hence ethical discipline of these faculties is decisive for one’s destiny.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction during the Śānti Parva, he addresses a Daitya-lord and explains a cosmological-ethical account of how living beings experience many kinds of destinies, emphasizing that these outcomes depend on the operation of the senses and inner faculties.