Shloka 18
Rājā–Rāja-Śabda-Prabhavaḥ — The Origin and Rationale of Kingship and Daṇḍanīti
भरतभूषण! कर्तव्याकर्तव्यका ज्ञान नष्ट हो जानेपर मोहके वशीभूत हुए सब मनुष्य लोभके अधीन हो गये ।।
bhīṣma uvāca | bharatabhūṣaṇa! kartavyākartavyajñāne naṣṭe moha-vaśībhūtāḥ sarve manuṣyā lobha-vaśaṃ gatāḥ || aprāptasyābhimarśaṃ tu kurvanto manuṣyās tataḥ | kāmo nāmāparaḥ tatra pratyapadyata vai prabho ||
毗湿摩说道：“婆罗多族的光饰啊！当对当为与不当为的辨识消失之时，众人被迷妄所压倒，尽皆落入贪欲的支配。继而，他们谋求未得之物，开始盘算、伸手攫取；就在那一刻，主上啊，另一种过失——名为‘迦摩’（欲望）——便降临其身，将他们紧紧缠住。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When moral discernment (knowing duty vs. forbidden action) collapses, delusion follows; delusion enables greed, and greed leads people to chase the unattained, whereupon desire (kāma) further entangles them. The verse maps a chain of ethical downfall and implies the need for vigilance and self-restraint.
In Bhishma’s instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira in the Śānti Parva, he explains how human beings slide into wrongdoing: first losing clarity about right and wrong, then becoming deluded and greedy, then actively grasping for what they do not have, and finally being seized by desire as an additional corrupting force.