Shloka 14
मनु-उपदेशः — भूत-उत्पत्ति, इन्द्रिय-निवृत्ति, तथा पर-स्वभाव-विवेकः
Manu’s Instruction on Elemental Origination, Sense-Withdrawal, and Discrimination of the Supreme Nature
ऊर्ध्व पादतलाभ्यां यदर्वाक्चोर्ध्व॑ च पश्यति । एतेन सर्वमेवेदं विद्धयभिव्याप्तमन्तरम्,दोनों पैरोंके तलोंसे लेकर ऊपरतक जो शरीर स्थित है, उसे जो साक्षीभूत चेतन ऊपर- नीचे सब ओरसे देखता है, वह इस सारे शरीरके भीतर और बाहर सब जगह व्याप्त है। इस बातको तुम अच्छी तरह समझ लो
ūrdhva-pāda-talābhyāṁ yad arvāk cordhvaṁ ca paśyati | etena sarvam evedaṁ viddhy abhivyāptam antaram ||
Bhīṣma said: “From the soles of the feet upward, whatever is constituted as the body is beheld in every direction, above and below, by the witnessing consciousness. Know well, therefore, that this entire embodied field is pervaded throughout, within and without, by that inner witness.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the distinction between the body (from the soles upward) and the inner witnessing consciousness that observes it in all directions. That witness is not confined to a single spot; it pervades the embodied field—inside and outside—so one should recognize the Self as all-pervading and not merely the body.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhīṣma continues his philosophical teaching, directing the listener toward inner discernment: identify the ‘seer’ (witness-consciousness) rather than the ‘seen’ (the body), as part of the broader counsel on attaining peace and mokṣa after the war.