Shloka 16
Yoga, Nārāyaṇa as Supreme Principle, and the Emanation of Categories
Sāṅkhya-Yoga Outline
क्षीणकोशो ह्ुमावास्यां चन्द्रमा न प्रकाशते । तद्वन्मूर्तिविमुक्तोड्सौ शरीरी नोपलभ्यते,जैसे चन्द्रमा अमावास्याको अपने प्रकाश्य स्थानसे वियुक्त हो जानेके कारण दिखायी नहीं देता है, उसी प्रकार देहधारी आत्मा शरीरसे वियुक्त होनेपर दृष्टिगोचर नहीं होता है
bhīṣma uvāca | kṣīṇakośo hy amāvāsyāṃ candramā na prakāśate | tadvan mūrtivimukto 'sau śarīrī nopalabhyate ||
Bhishma said: Just as the moon, on the new-moon night, does not shine when its luminous sphere is diminished and its light is not manifest, so too the embodied Self, once separated from the body, is not available to ordinary perception. The teaching underscores that what we call a ‘person’ is not exhausted by what the senses can grasp; when the bodily basis is gone, the Self is not an object of sight, and therefore one should not mistake invisibility for non-existence.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Self is not an object of sensory perception. When the Self is separated from the body, it is not seen—just as the moon’s light is not manifest on the new-moon night—so absence from sight should not be confused with non-existence.
In the Shanti Parva instruction, Bhishma is explaining metaphysical and ethical understanding about the embodied being and death. He uses the familiar image of the moon at amavasya to clarify why the departed Self is not perceptible to ordinary observers.