Shloka 49
जनक–सुलभा संवादः
Janaka–Sulabhā Dialogue on Mokṣa and Non-attachment
देवलोकं तथा तिर्यड्मनुष्यमपि चाश्रुते । यदि शुध्यति कालेन तस्मादज्ञानसागरात्
devalokaṃ tathā tiryag-manuṣyam api cāśrute | yadi śudhyati kālena tasmād ajñāna-sāgarāt (uttīrṇo 'smād agādhāt sa paramāpnoti śobhanam) ||
毗湿摩解释道：“众生为无明所驱，反复投生于天界、人间与畜生之道。若随时节因缘而渐得清净——由经历成熟、内在过失渐次涤除——便能渡过那深不可测的无明大海，成就至上的善。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ignorance (ajñāna) keeps a being cycling through various births—divine, human, and animal. When purification matures in due time, the being can cross the ‘ocean of ignorance’ and attain the highest good, implying that liberation is tied to inner cleansing and right understanding rather than mere status of birth.
In Bhishma’s instruction during the Śānti Parva, he describes the condition of embodied existence: the jīva wanders through multiple realms and species. He then states the hopeful resolution—when the being becomes purified with time, it transcends the deep ignorance that caused wandering and reaches an auspicious, supreme state.