Shloka 19
Yoga, Nārāyaṇa as Supreme Principle, and the Emanation of Categories
Sāṅkhya-Yoga Outline
उत्पत्तिवृद्धिवयसा यथा स इति गृहाते । चन्द्र एव त्वमावास्यां तथा भवति मूर्तिमान्
utpatti-vṛddhi-vayasā yathā sa iti gṛhyate | candra eva tvam amāvasyāṁ tathā bhavati mūrtimān ||
Bhishma sprach: „So wie man einen Menschen trotz Geburt, Wachstum und der aufeinanderfolgenden Lebensalter weiterhin als dieselbe Person versteht, so wird auch der Mond—obwohl er in der Neumondnacht verschwindet—wenn er wieder sichtbar wird, als eben derselbe Mond anerkannt. Ebenso ist, wenn das verkörperte Selbst in einen anderen Körper eintritt, zu verstehen, dass es dasselbe fortdauernde Selbst ist.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Continuity of identity despite change: just as a person is regarded as the same individual through different life-stages, and the Moon is regarded as the same Moon after disappearing at amāvasyā, so the self remains the same even when it takes another body.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and philosophical truths. Here he uses everyday analogies—human aging and the Moon’s reappearance—to clarify the doctrine of the enduring self across bodily change.