Shloka 12
अव्यक्त इति विख्यात: शाश्रवृतो5थाक्षयोडव्यय: । यतः सृष्टानि भूतानि जायन्ते च ग्रियन्ति च,उसीकी अव्यक्त नामसे प्रसिद्धि है। वही शाश्वत, अक्षय और अविनाशी है। उससे उत्पन्न सब प्राणी जन्मते और मरते रहते हैं
avyakta iti vikhyātaḥ śāśvato ’thākṣayo ’vyayaḥ | yataḥ sṛṣṭāni bhūtāni jāyante ca mriyante ca ||
Bhishma said: That supreme principle is renowned as the “Unmanifest.” It is eternal, imperishable, and undecaying. From it all created beings arise, and in the course of time they are born and they die—again and again.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that behind the changing world of birth and death stands an unmanifest, eternal, imperishable reality; all beings arise from it and dissolve again, while that source itself remains unchanged.
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on higher dharma and liberation-oriented knowledge; here he describes the unmanifest principle as the origin of all beings and the backdrop to their continual cycle of birth and death.