Shloka 13
उद्यन् हि सविता यद्वत्सृजते रश्मिमण्डलम् | स एवास्तमपागच्छंस्तदेवात्मनि यच्छति,जैसे सूर्य उदित होकर अपनी किरणोंको सब ओर फैला देता है और अस्त होते समय उन समस्त किरणोंको अपने भीतर ही समेट लेता है, उसी प्रकार जीवात्मा देहमें प्रविष्ट होकर फैली हुई इन्द्रियोंकी वृत्तिरूपी किरणोंद्वारा पाँचों विषयोंको ग्रहण करता है और शरीरको छोड़ते समय उन सबको समेटकर अपने साथ लेकर चल देता है
udyan hi savitā yadvat sṛjate raśmimaṇḍalam | sa evāstam apāgacchaṃs tadevātmany yacchati ||
Bhishma said: “Just as the Sun, on rising, sends forth its circle of rays in every direction, and on setting draws those very rays back into itself, so too the embodied self, upon entering a body, extends itself outward through the ‘ray-like’ activities of the senses to grasp the five objects of sense; and when it departs the body, it gathers those activities back within and carries them along.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that sense-activity is an outward extension of the embodied self, and that mastery lies in the ability to withdraw and gather the senses back within—like the sun retracting its rays—especially at the time of departure from the body.
In the Śānti Parva instruction, Bhīṣma explains to the listener a philosophical analogy: the sun’s daily emission and withdrawal of rays illustrates how the jīva engages the world through the senses and later retracts those faculties when leaving the body.