Shloka 54
श्रेयो-धर्मकर्मविचारः
Inquiry into Śreyas, Dharma, and Karma
स यावदेवास्ति सशेषभुक् ते प्रजाश्न देव्या च तथैव शुक्ले । तावत् तदज्लेषु विशुद्धभाव: संयम्य पज्चेन्द्रियरूपमेतत्
sa yāvad evāsti saśeṣabhuk te prajāśna devyā ca tathaiva śukle | tāvat tad-ajñeṣu viśuddhabhāvaḥ saṁyamya pañcendriyarūpam etat ||
यावत् स विशुद्धभावः सिद्धः सशेषभुक् प्रारब्धशेषं भुङ्क्ते, तावत् पञ्चेन्द्रियरूपं करणसमुदायं संयम्य तस्य देहे सर्वेषां प्रजानां—इन्द्रियदेवताः—तथा अपरा-पराविद्याशक्तयश्च निवसन्ति।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even a purified, perfected person may continue in a body due to residual (prārabdha) karma; during this period, liberation is safeguarded by strict restraint of the five-sense apparatus, while the powers of knowledge (lower and higher) remain present and operative without bondage.
In Bhishma’s instruction in the Shanti Parva, he describes the condition of a siddha/viśuddhabhāva person: though still living and undergoing the remainder of past karma, he keeps the senses under control; the presiding deities of the senses and the capacities of knowledge are said to reside in his embodied state until that remainder is spent.