Shloka 36
श्रेयो-धर्मकर्मविचारः
Inquiry into Śreyas, Dharma, and Karma
शतं सहस्राणि चतुर्दशेह परागतिर्जीवगणस्य दैत्य | आरोहणं तत्कृतमेव विद्धि स्थान तथा नि:सरणं च तेषाम्
śataṁ sahasrāṇi caturdaśeha parāgatir jīvagaṇasya daitya | ārohaṇaṁ tatkṛtam eva viddhi sthānaṁ tathā niḥsaraṇaṁ ca teṣām ||
毗湿摩说道：“噢，阿修罗族的达伊提呀！此处宣说：众生轮回流转之去处，总计为一百四十万种。应当知晓：他们升往高界，正是依凭那十四种‘器官/工具’而成；同样，他们安住于诸种境位，以及从那些境位离去或堕落，也都依赖于此。因此，当明白：内外诸根与心识诸力的道德趋向，决定众生是上升、停住，还是下坠。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A being’s rise to higher states, stability in a given state, and fall from it are governed by the functioning and moral orientation of the fourteen instruments (five sense-organs, five action-organs, and the inner faculties such as mind and intellect). Hence ethical discipline of these faculties is decisive for one’s destiny.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction during the Śānti Parva, he addresses a Daitya-lord and explains a cosmological-ethical account of how living beings experience many kinds of destinies, emphasizing that these outcomes depend on the operation of the senses and inner faculties.