Shloka 176
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
यदि वाप्यस्पृशन्त्या मे स्पर्श जानासि कठ्चन । ज्ञानं कृतमबीजं ते कथं तेनेह भिक्षुणा
yadi vāpy aspṛśantyā me sparśaṁ jānāsi kaścana | jñānaṁ kṛtam abījaṁ te kathaṁ teneha bhikṣuṇā ||
毗湿摩说道：“即便我并未触碰你，若你仍声称以某种方式感到我的触碰，那么我必须问：那位行乞的圣者、贤哲般遮尸佉（Pañcaśikha），当初又如何能在此将真实的智慧传授给你？因为你执著于感受与错觉，使那智慧成了‘无种’之物——不能结果。”
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma criticizes a mind that mistakes imagined sensation for reality. If one remains trapped in sensory fixation and confusion, even profound instruction becomes “abīja” (seedless)—it cannot mature into realization or ethical transformation.
Bhīṣma addresses an interlocutor who claims to feel ‘touch’ despite no contact. Using this as evidence of delusion, he questions how the ascetic teacher Pañcaśikha could have successfully transmitted liberating knowledge, since the listener’s misunderstanding has made that teaching fruitless.