Shloka 17
Yoga, Nārāyaṇa as Supreme Principle, and the Emanation of Categories
Sāṅkhya-Yoga Outline
यथा55काशान्तरं प्राप्य चन्द्रमा भ्राजते पुन: । तद्वल्लिड्डान्तरं प्राप्प शरीरी भ्राजते पुन:,फिर वही चन्द्रमा जैसे अन्यत्र आकाशमें स्थान पाकर पुनः प्रकाशित होने लगता है, उसी प्रकार जीवात्मा दूसरा शरीर धारण करके पुनः प्रकट हो जाता है
yathākāśāntaraṁ prāpya candramā bhrājate punaḥ | tadvallīḍḍhāntaraṁ prāpya śarīrī bhrājate punaḥ ||
Bhīṣma says: Just as the moon, reaching another region of the sky, shines forth again, so too the embodied self—having taken up another body—manifests again. The image teaches continuity of the jīva across changing embodiments, grounding ethical responsibility beyond a single lifespan.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The embodied self continues after the fall of one body and becomes manifest again by taking another body; therefore one should act with dharmic responsibility, mindful of consequences that extend beyond a single life.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and the nature of the self. Here he uses the moon’s reappearance in another part of the sky as an analogy for the jīva’s re-manifestation through rebirth.