Shloka 76
Adhyāya 284: Tapas as a Corrective to Household Attachment
Parāśara’s Instruction
भगवान् कारणं कार्य क्रिया करणमेव च । असतश्न सतश्वैव तथैव प्रभवाप्ययौ,आप ही कारण, कार्य, क्रिया (प्रयत्न) और करण हैं। सत् और असत् पदार्थोंकी उत्पत्ति और प्रलयके स्थान भी आप ही हैं
bhagavān kāraṇaṁ kāryaṁ kriyā karaṇam eva ca | asataś ca sataś caiva tathaiva prabhavāpyayau ||
భగవానుడైన నీవే కారణము, నీవే కార్యము, నీవే క్రియ (ప్రయత్నము), నీవే కరణము (సాధనము). సత్ మరియు అసత్—ఇవిరెండింటి ఉద్భవమూ నీవలనె; లయమూ నీలోనే.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
All causality and agency ultimately rest in the Supreme: He is the cause, the produced effect, the very act of striving, and the means by which action occurs; likewise, manifestation and dissolution of both sat (the existent) and asat (the non-manifest/unreal) are grounded in Him. The ethical implication is humility and surrender—reducing egoistic doership and aligning one’s conduct with dharma.
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma and higher truth after the war. Here he offers a theological-metaphysical statement that frames the Lord as the ultimate basis of the world-process—origin, action, instrumentality, and dissolution—supporting a contemplative, devotion-infused understanding of duty and reality.