Shloka 27
Vyaktāvyakta-Viveka and Nivṛtti as Paramā Gati
Manifest–Unmanifest Discrimination and the Supreme Path of Withdrawal
जैसे एक दीपकसे दूसरे सहस्रों दीप जला लिये जाते हैं और पहले दीपकको कोई हानि नहीं होती, उसी प्रकार एक प्रकृति ही असंख्य पदार्थोंको उत्पन्न करती है और अनन्त होनेके कारण उसका क्षय नहीं होता ।। अव्यक्तकर्मजा बुद्धिरहंकारं प्रसूयते । आकाशं चाप्यहंकाराद् वायुराकाशसम्भव:,अव्यक्त प्रकृतिमें क्षोभ होनेपर जिस बुद्धि (महत्तत्त्व) की उत्पत्ति होती है, वह बुद्धि अहंकारको जन्म देती है। अहंकारसे आकाश और आकाशसे वायुकी उत्पत्ति होती है
bhīṣma uvāca | yathā ekena dīpena dvitīyāḥ sahasraśo dīpāḥ prajvālyante na ca pūrvasya dīpasya kaścid vyayo bhavati, tathā ekā prakṛtir eva asaṅkhyeyān padārthān utpādayati anantatvāt ca tasyāḥ kṣayo na vidyate || avyakta-karmajā buddhir ahaṅkāraṃ prasūyate | ākāśaṃ cāpy ahaṅkārād vāyur ākāśa-sambhavaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: Just as from a single lamp thousands of other lamps may be lit, yet the first lamp suffers no loss, so too a single Prakṛti brings forth innumerable entities; and because it is without end, it is not diminished. When the unmanifest Prakṛti is stirred into activity, the intellect (the great principle, mahat) arises; from that intellect is born ego-sense (ahaṅkāra). From ego-sense arises space (ākāśa), and from space arises wind (vāyu).
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma explains Sāṅkhya-style causation: the unmanifest Prakṛti, though producing countless effects, is not diminished—like a lamp lighting many lamps. From the agitation of Prakṛti arises buddhi (mahat), from buddhi arises ahaṅkāra, and from ahaṅkāra arises ākāśa, leading onward to vāyu. The ethical implication is detachment: seeing the world as a chain of principles helps loosen identification with ego and its products.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher knowledge. Here he shifts into metaphysical exposition, using a vivid everyday analogy (lamp-to-lamps) to clarify how the primordial cause can generate many effects without being exhausted, and then outlines an early sequence of cosmic evolution (Prakṛti → buddhi → ahaṅkāra → ākāśa → vāyu).