Shloka 42
Śakra–Namuci-saṃvāda: Śoka-nivāraṇa and Daiva-vicāra
Indra and Namuci on grief, composure, and inevitability
यथार्णवगता नद्यो व्यक्तीर्जदगति नाम च | नदाश्न ता नियच्छन्ति तादृश: सत्त्वसंक्षय:
yathārṇavagatā nadyo vyaktīr jaḍagati-nāma ca | nadāś ca tā niyacchanti tādṛśaḥ sattva-saṅkṣayaḥ ||
毗湿摩说：“正如诸河入海，便舍弃各自的别相——名与形——又如大河纳小流于己身；同样，当个我之诸限制条件耗尽之时，个体之我亦融入至上之我。此种差别之消融，即是解脱。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation (mokṣa) is portrayed as the ending of separateness: when the conditions that sustain individual identity are exhausted, the jīva’s distinct ‘name and form’ no longer stand apart and it abides as one with the Supreme—like rivers losing their separate identity upon entering the ocean.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction section, Bhīṣma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira on the highest good. Here he uses a natural metaphor—rivers merging into the ocean and larger rivers absorbing smaller ones—to explain the idea of final release and the dissolution of individual limitation.