Shloka 1
जनकस्य मोक्षमार्गप्रश्नः तथा पञ्चशिखोपदेश-प्रस्तावः | Janaka’s Path to Liberation: Prelude to Pañcaśikha’s Instruction
ऑपनआक्रात [छ। अ्--क्ाजण एकादशाधिकद्वधिशततमो<्ध्याय: संसारचक्र और जीवात्माकी स्थितिका वर्णन गुरुर्वाच चतुर्विधानि भूतानि स्थावराणि चराणि च । अव्यक्तप्रभवान्याहुरव्यक्तनिधनानि च । अव्यक्तलक्षणं विद्यादव्यक्तात्मात्मकं मन:,गुरुजी कहते हैं--वत्स! जरायुज, अण्डज, स्वेदज और उद्धिज्ज--ये चार प्रकारके जो स्थावर और जड़म प्राणी हैं, वे सब अव्यक्तसे उत्पन्न हुए बताये गये हैं और अव्यक्तमें ही उन सबका लय होता है। जिसका कोई लक्षण व्यक्त न हो उसे अव्यक्त समझना चाहिये। मन अव्यक्त प्रकृतिके समान ही त्रिगुणात्मक है
bhīṣma uvāca | guruḥ uvāca—caturvidhāni bhūtāni sthāvarāṇi carāṇi ca | avyaktaprabhavāny āhur avyaktanidhanāni ca | avyaktalakṣaṇaṃ vidyād avyaktātmātmakam manaḥ |
Bhīṣma said: The teacher said—“Dear child, beings are of four kinds, whether immobile or mobile. They are said to arise from the Unmanifest and to dissolve back into the Unmanifest. That which has no manifest mark should be understood as ‘Unmanifest’. The mind, too, is of the nature of the Unmanifest—constituted by the three guṇas.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
All beings—whether immobile or mobile—originate from the Unmanifest (avyakta) and ultimately dissolve back into it; the mind itself is also rooted in that unmanifest, tri-guṇa nature. The teaching frames existence as a cyclical emergence and reabsorption, encouraging discernment of the unmanifest ground behind changing forms.
Within Bhīṣma’s instruction in the Śānti Parva, a teacher addresses a disciple and begins a metaphysical explanation of saṃsāra: classification of beings, their source and end in the avyakta, and the status of mind as tri-guṇa and akin to the unmanifest principle.