Shloka 43
Vyaktāvyakta-Viveka and Nivṛtti as Paramā Gati
Manifest–Unmanifest Discrimination and the Supreme Path of Withdrawal
नदीष्वापो यथा युक्ता यथा सूर्ये मरीचय: । संततत्वाद् यथा यान्ति तथा देहा: शरीरिणाम्,जैसे नदियोंमें जल रहता ही है और सूर्यमें किरणें भी रहती ही हैं तथा वे जल और किरणें नदी और सूर्यसे नित्य सम्बद्ध होनेके कारण उनके साथ-साथ जाती हैं, उसी प्रकार देहधारियोंके सूक्ष्म शरीर भी जीवात्माके साथ ही रहते हैं और उसे साथ लेकर ही आते- जाते हैं
nadīṣv āpo yathā yuktā yathā sūrye marīcayaḥ | saṃtatatvād yathā yānti tathā dehāḥ śarīriṇām ||
Bhishma said: “Just as water remains joined to rivers, and rays remain joined to the sun—and, because of their unbroken connection, they move along with the river and the sun—so too the bodies (subtle embodiments) of embodied beings remain associated with the individual self and accompany it as it comes and goes.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the continuity of the self’s association with a subtle embodiment: as water is inseparable from a river’s flow and rays from the sun, so the subtle body remains linked to the individual self and accompanies it through movement—i.e., through transitions such as departure and return in saṃsāra.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation and the nature of the self, Bhishma explains metaphysical principles to Yudhiṣṭhira using vivid analogies. Here he illustrates how the embodied being’s subtle vehicle remains continuously connected to the self, accompanying it across states and journeys.