Shloka 15
Adhyāya 222 — ब्रह्मस्थानप्राप्ति: मोक्षधर्मे समत्वव्रतम्
Attaining the Brahman-Station: The Vow of Equanimity in Mokṣadharma
प्रह्नमादजी बोले--देवराज! जो प्राणियोंकी प्रवृत्ति और निवृत्तिको नहीं जानता, उसीको अविवेकके कारण स्तम्भ (जडता या मोह) होता है। जिसे आत्माका साक्षात्कार हो गया है, उसको कभी मोह नहीं होता ।।
devarāja! yo bhūtānāṁ pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca na jānāti, sa evāvivekāt stambhaṁ (jaḍatāṁ vā mohaṁ vā) prāpnoti. yasya tv ātma-sākṣātkāro jātaḥ, tasya kadācana moho na bhavati. svabhāvāt sampravartante nivartante tathaiva ca; sarve bhāvās tathābhāvāḥ; puruṣārtho na vidyate.
普罗诃罗陀说道：“噢，天神之王！凡不知众生之‘趋行’（pravṛtti）与‘退止’（nivṛtti）者，因缺乏辨识，便生‘僵固’（stambha）——迟钝、昏暗与迷妄。然而，已证得自我（Ātman）者，迷妄永不复起。一切有与无的诸相，皆随其自性而起、随其自性而灭；自来而自去。就此而言，所谓‘个人的努力’并不能被称作究竟的原因。”
प्रह्माद उवाच
Educational Q&A
Without discernment of pravṛtti (outward engagement) and nivṛtti (withdrawal), one falls into stambha—rigid dullness and delusion. Self-realization removes moha. The verse also stresses that arising and ceasing of states occur according to svabhāva (inherent nature), challenging the notion of absolute personal agency (puruṣārtha) as the final cause.
In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, Prahlāda addresses Devarāja (Indra) with a philosophical instruction: he contrasts the deluded person, who lacks discrimination, with the realized person, who is free from delusion, and frames worldly changes as movements of nature rather than as products of egoic control.