Shloka 44
Vyaktāvyakta-Viveka and Nivṛtti as Paramā Gati
Manifest–Unmanifest Discrimination and the Supreme Path of Withdrawal
स्वप्नयोगे यथैवात्मा पज्चेन्द्रियसमायुत: । देहमुत्सज्य वै याति तथैवात्मोपलभ्यते,जैसे स्वप्नमें पाँच ज्ञानेन्द्रियोंसहित जीवात्मा इस शरीरको छोड़कर अन्यत्र चला जाता है, वैसे ही मृत्युके बाद भी वह इस शरीरको छोड़कर दूसरा शरीर ग्रहण कर लेता है
svapnayoge yathaivātmā pañcendriyasamāyutaḥ | deham utsṛjya vai yāti tathaivātmopalabhyate ||
Bhishma said: “Just as, in the state of dreaming, the self—accompanied by the five senses—seems to leave this body and move elsewhere, so too after death the self is understood to depart from this body and take up another embodiment.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses the dream-state as an analogy to explain transmigration: the self is not confined to one body, and after death it departs and takes another embodiment, much as it seems to ‘go elsewhere’ in dreams while still associated with sensory faculties.
In Shanti Parva’s instruction on peace and right understanding, Bhishma is teaching about the nature of the self and continuity beyond death, offering a philosophical explanation meant to reduce fear and support dharmic insight.