Shloka 20
Mokṣa–Saṃnyāsa–Tyāga–Guṇa-Vibhāga (Renunciation, Relinquishment, and the Three Guṇas) — Mahābhārata 6, Bhīṣma-parva
सम्बन्ध-- इस अध्यायके तीसरे शलोकमें जिससे जो उत्पन्न हुआ है, यह बात युननेके लिये कहा गया था, उसका वर्णन पूर्वश्लोकके उत्तराद्धमें कुछ किया गया। अब उसीकी कुछ बात इस श्लोकके पूर्वाद्धमें कहते हुए इसके उत्तराद्धधमें और इक्कीसवें श्लोकमें प्रकृतियें स्थित पुरुषके स्वरूपका वर्णन किया जाता है-- कार्यकरणकर्तत्वे हेतु: प्रकृतिरुच्यते । पुरुष: सुखदु:खानां भोक्तृत्वे हेतुरुच्यते,कार्य और करणको उत्पन्न करनेमें हेतु प्रकृति कही जाती है: और जीवात्मा सुख- दुःखोंके भोक्तापनमें अर्थात् भोगनेमें हेतु कहा जाता है+
kārya-karaṇa-kartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtir ucyate | puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṃ bhoktṛtve hetur ucyate ||
Arjuna said: In the production of actions and the instruments of action, Prakṛti is declared to be the cause; but Puruṣa is declared to be the cause in the experience of pleasure and pain—namely, in enjoying and suffering.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes two causal domains: prakṛti is responsible for generating the body-mind complex and its activities (effects and instruments), while puruṣa is responsible for the lived experience of pleasure and pain as the conscious experiencer. This frames ethical reflection on agency: material nature drives processes, yet the self is implicated in how experience is owned and undergone.
Within Bhīṣma Parva’s philosophical instruction on the battlefield setting, Arjuna articulates a Sāṅkhya-style analysis: he explains how embodied action arises from nature (prakṛti) and how the conscious self (puruṣa) becomes the experiencer of happiness and sorrow, preparing for further description of the ‘situated person’ in the following verse.