Shloka 11
Adhyāya 353 — Kathā-prāmāṇya (Authority of Transmission) and the Brāhmaṇa’s Ascetic Resolve
हित्वा गुणमयं सर्व कर्म हित्वा शुभाशुभम् । उभे सत्यानृते त्यक्त्वा एवं भवति निर्गुण:
hitvā guṇamayaṃ sarvaṃ karma hitvā śubhāśubham | ubhe satyānṛte tyaktvā evaṃ bhavati nirguṇaḥ ||
हित्वा गुणमयं सर्वं कर्म हित्वा शुभाशुभम्। उभे सत्यानृते त्यक्त्वा एवं भवति निर्गुणः॥
पितामह उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation is presented as freedom from attachment to guṇa-conditioned action and its moral accounting (merit/demerit). The verse urges a shift beyond dualistic clinging—such as identifying oneself through ‘I am truthful’ versus ‘I am false’—toward a state of non-identification where actions and labels no longer bind.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and the path to peace after the war. Here he articulates a renunciatory, mokṣa-oriented teaching: the seeker becomes ‘nirguṇa’ by relinquishing attachment to all guṇa-based activity and the dualities that sustain bondage.