Shloka 9
कर्मविद्या-भेदः
Karma–Vidyā Distinction: Paths of Bondage and Release
ज्योतिषो5पि गुणं रूप॑ वायुराददते यदा । प्रशाम्पति ततो ज्योतिर्वायुर्दोधूयते महान्
jyotiṣo ’pi guṇaṃ rūpaṃ vāyur ādadate yadā | praśāmyati tato jyotir vāyur dōdhūyate mahān ||
Vyāsa sprach: „Wenn das Prinzip des Windes (vāyu) sogar die Eigenschaften und die Gestalt des Lichts (des Feuers) an sich nimmt, dann erlischt jenes Licht und geht im Wind auf. Daraufhin wühlt der Wind mit seiner gewaltigen Kraft die ganze Weite des Raumes auf und versetzt sie in Unruhe.“
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates the hierarchical dissolution of the elements: fire/light loses its distinctness when its qualities are taken up by wind, and wind then powerfully agitates space. Ethically, it supports vairāgya—recognizing that all compounded powers are transient and ultimately absorbed into more pervasive principles.
In Vyāsa’s exposition (within Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction), he describes a process where the fiery principle becomes extinguished and merges into wind; then wind, intensified, stirs the whole of space—part of a broader account of elemental transformation/dissolution.