Shloka 8
जनकस्य मोक्षमार्गप्रश्नः तथा पञ्चशिखोपदेश-प्रस्तावः | Janaka’s Path to Liberation: Prelude to Pañcaśikha’s Instruction
अव्यक्तनाभं व्यक्तारं विकारपरिमण्डलम् । क्षेत्रज्ञाधिष्ठितं चक्र स्निग्धाक्षं वर्तते ध्रुवम्
Bhīṣma uvāca: avyaktanābhaṃ vyaktāraṃ vikāraparimaṇḍalam | kṣetrajñādhiṣṭhitaṃ cakraṃ snigdhākṣaṃ vartate dhruvam ||
ভীষ্মে ক’লে—এই সংসাৰচক্ৰ ধ্ৰুৱভাৱে অবিৰাম ঘূৰে। অব্যক্ত তাৰ নাভি; ব্যক্ত ৰূপ—দেহ আৰু ইন্দ্ৰিয়াদি—তাৰ অৰ; সুখ-দুখ, ইচ্ছা আদি বিকাৰ তাৰ পৰিধি; আসক্তি তাৰ অক্ষ। ক্ষেত্ৰজ্ঞ (জীৱাত্মা) তাত সাৰথিৰ দৰে অধিষ্ঠিত। এইদৰে জন্ম-মৃত্যুৰ স্ৰোত ঘূৰি চলে।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents saṃsāra as a wheel driven by attachment: the unmanifest ground becomes manifest experience, producing changing states like pleasure, pain, and desire. The kṣetrajña (self) is implicated as the ‘driver’ so long as it identifies with the wheel; freedom lies in discerning this mechanism and loosening attachment.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction section, Bhishma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira on liberation-oriented dharma. Here he uses a vivid metaphor—the wheel—to explain how embodied life revolves through birth and death under the forces of manifestation and mental modifications.