Shloka 179
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
वर्णाश्रमा: पृथक्त्वेन दृष्टार्थस्यापृथक्त्विन: । नान्यदन्यदिति ज्ञात्वा नान्यदन्यत्र वर्तते
varṇāśramāḥ pṛthaktvena dṛṣṭārthasyāpṛthaktvinaḥ | nānyad anyad iti jñātvā nānyad anyatra vartate ||
毗湿摩说道：“诸种姓与诸人生阶段（梵行、居家、林栖、出家）确被说为各自分明。然而，对那已亲证真理、安住于不二之智者而言——既知‘别无他物、无有分离’，并以洞见而行：除自性（我）之外别无所存，且在任何‘他者’之中亦寻不得一个真实的‘他者’——便不可能与某个异己之物发生真实的结合。因此，对这样的知者，所谓‘种姓混杂’（varṇa-saṅkara）的指控并不成立。”
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma distinguishes between conventional social distinctions (varṇa and āśrama) and the standpoint of realized non-dual knowledge. For the Self-realized person who sees no true ‘other,’ notions like ‘mixture’ or ‘contamination’ based on difference lose their footing, because they presuppose real separateness.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhīṣma explains to the listener that while social duties are taught in differentiated form for worldly order, the knower of Brahman transcends difference-based judgments; hence accusations such as varṇa-saṅkara do not apply to one established in non-dual realization.