Shloka 1
अव्यक्त–व्यक्त–कारणकार्यविवेकः
Avyakta–Vyakta and Causality: Discrimination of Field and Knower
अपना छा अकाल चतुरराधिकद्विशततमो< ध्याय: आत्मा एवं परमात्माके साक्षात्कारका उपाय तथा महत्त्व मनुर्वाच यथा व्यक्तमिदं शेते स्वप्ने चरति चेतनम् । ज्ञानमिन्द्रियसंयुक्तं तद्धत् प्रेत्म भवाभवौ,मनु कहते हैं--बृहस्पते! जैसे स्वप्लावस्थामें यह स्थूल शरीर तो सोया रहता है और सूक्ष्म शरीर विचरण करता रहता है, उसी प्रकार इस शरीरको छोड़नेपर यह ज्ञानस्वरूप जीवात्मा या तो इन्द्रियोंके सहित पुन: शरीर ग्रहण कर लेता है या सुषुप्तिकी भाँति मुक्त हो जाता है
manur uvāca—yathā vyaktam idaṁ śete svapne carati cetanam | jñānam indriya-saṁyuktaṁ tadvad pretyaṁ bhavābhavau ||
Manu said: “O Bṛhaspati, just as in a dream the visible (gross) body lies asleep while the conscious principle moves about, so too, when one departs from this body, the self that is of the nature of awareness either takes up another embodiment together with the senses, or—like the stillness of deep sleep—attains release.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Consciousness is distinct from the gross body: as the dreamer’s awareness operates while the body rests, so the jīva after death either continues with senses into another birth or, when freed from such association, reaches cessation of rebirth (mokṣa).
Within Bhīṣma’s instruction in Śānti Parva, a cited teaching of Manu addressed to Bṛhaspati explains the post-mortem course of the self using the dream-state analogy, framing rebirth versus liberation as outcomes tied to the self’s connection with the senses.