Shloka 27
Vimokṣa-niścaya: Pañcaśikha’s Analysis of Aggregates, Guṇas, and Tyāga (मोक्षनिर्णयः)
भीष्म उवाच दोषैर्मूलादवच्चिन्नैरविंशुद्धात्मा विमुच्यते । विनाशयति सम्भूतमयस्मयमयो यथा । तथा कृतात्मा सहजैदररषि्नश्यति तामसै:
bhīṣma uvāca doṣair mūlād avacchinnair aviśuddhātmā vimucyate | vināśayati sambhūtam ayasmayam ayo yathā | tathā kṛtātmā sahajair doṣair naśyati tāmasaiḥ ||
毗湿摩说道：大王啊，当诸过失连同其根本一并被斩断时，那先前不净的内在自性便得清净，脱离世间系缚。譬如铁制之器，本亦为铁，能斩断铁链，而在斩断之际自身亦随之磨损；同样，经过调御与净化的智慧，能摧毁由昏暗之性（tamas）所生的先天缺陷；待其摧毁既毕，智慧自身亦归于寂静而安住。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Freedom comes when defects are removed along with their root-cause (ignorance/delusion). A purified, disciplined intellect can eliminate innate tamasic tendencies; once its task is done, even that corrective instrument becomes still, indicating the settling of mental activity after purification.
In the Śānti Parva instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīṣma explains a method of inner purification: destroy faults at their source. He illustrates it with a simile—iron cutting iron—showing how a tool used to remove bondage may itself be worn away, paralleling how the refined intellect quiets after removing tamasic defects.