Shloka 38
भृगु–भरद्वाजसंवादः: वर्णभेदस्य कर्माधारितव्याख्या
Bhrigu–Bharadvaja Dialogue: A Karma-Based Account of Varṇa
न पुल्कसो न चाण्डाल आत्मान त्यक्तुमिच्छति । तया तुष्ट: स्वया योन्या मायां पश्यस्व यादृशीम्
na pulkaso na cāṇḍāla ātmānaṁ tyaktum icchati | tayā tuṣṭaḥ svayā yonyā māyāṁ paśyasva yādṛśīm ||
毗湿摩说道：“无论是普尔迦沙，还是旃陀罗，都不愿舍弃自身之躯。满足于降生所得的出身与地位，他安于自己的族系。且看——这正是主宰之玛雅何等奇妙的迷幻之力，使众生执著于各自被分配的境遇。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma highlights how beings cling to embodied life and to the circumstances of their birth, taking satisfaction in what is familiar. This attachment is presented as an effect of māyā—an obscuring power that makes one identify with one’s station and resist renunciation or transformation.
In the didactic discourse of the Śānti Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and the workings of human attachment. He uses socially marginal examples (Pulkaśa and Cāṇḍāla) to show that the impulse to preserve one’s life and accept one’s birth-condition is universal, and he points to the Lord’s māyā as the underlying force.