Shloka 4
Śānti-parva 206: Guṇa-hetu Moha, Kāma-krodha Chain, Indriya-utpatti, and Nirodha
जैसे वही तागा सोनेकी लड़ियोंमें, मोतियोंमें, मूँगोंमें और मिट्टीकी मालाके दानोंमें ओतप्रोत होकर सुशोभित होता है, उसी प्रकार एक ही परमात्मा गौ, अश्व, मनुष्य, हाथी, मृग और कीट-पतंग आदि समस्त शरीरोंमें व्याप्त है! विषयासक्त जीवात्मा अपने-अपने कर्मके अनुसार भिन्न-भिन्न शरीर धारण करता है ।। येन येन शरीरेण यद्यत्कर्म करोत्ययम् । तेन तेन शरीरेण तत् तत् फलमुपाश्ुते,यह मनुष्य जिस-जिस शरीरसे जो-जो कर्म करता है, उस-उस शरीरसे उसी-उसी कर्मका फल भोगता है
yathā sa eva tāgaḥ suvarṇa-laḍīṣu, muktāsu, pravāleṣu ca mṛnmayyāṃ mālāyāṃ ca dāneṣu otaprotaḥ san śobhate, tathā eka eva paramātmā go-aśva-manuṣya-hasti-mṛga-kīṭa-pataṅgādiṣu sarva-śarīreṣu vyāptaḥ. viṣayāsaktaḥ jīvātmā svakarmaṇāṃ yathāyogyaṃ bhinna-bhinnaṃ śarīraṃ dhārayati. yena yena śarīreṇa yad yat karma karoty ayam, tena tena śarīreṇa tat tat phalam upāśnute.
Bhīṣma said: Just as a single thread, passing through strings of gold, pearls, coral, and even beads of clay, holds them together and lends them beauty, so too the one Supreme Self pervades every body—cow, horse, human, elephant, deer, and even insects and flying creatures. Yet the individual self, attached to sense-objects, takes on diverse bodies according to its own deeds. Whatever action a person performs through whatever body, through that very body it experiences the corresponding fruit.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
One Supreme Self pervades all living bodies, but the individual self—driven by attachment—moves through different embodiments according to karma; actions done through a given embodiment yield corresponding results that are experienced in that embodied condition.
In Shanti Parva’s instruction to Yudhishthira, Bhishma explains metaphysical and ethical principles: he uses the image of a single thread running through many kinds of beads to illustrate the all-pervading Paramatma, then states the rule of karmic retribution across embodied lives.