Shloka 34
अध्यात्म-तत्त्व-निर्णयः
Adhyātma Taxonomy: Elements, Faculties, and Guṇas
हंसोक्तं चाक्षरं चैव कूटस्थं यत् तदक्षरम् | तद् विद्वानक्षरं प्राप्प जहाति प्राणजन्मनी
haṁsoktaṁ cākṣaraṁ caiva kūṭasthaṁ yat tad akṣaram | tad vidvān akṣaraṁ prāpya jahāti prāṇa-janmanī ||
Vyāsa said: That imperishable Reality spoken of as the “Haṁsa,” and also called the immutable (kūṭastha) Akṣara—when a wise person truly knows and attains that Akṣara, he casts off for ever the bondage connected with vital breath and the round of birth and death.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Realization of the imperishable, immutable Self (Akṣara/Kūṭastha), symbolically termed ‘Haṁsa,’ frees a person from bondage to prāṇa-conditioned existence and the cycle of birth and death.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation, Vyāsa explains a metaphysical point: the ‘Haṁsa’ teaching refers to the same imperishable Akṣara; one who truly knows it transcends mortal limitations and is no longer bound by repeated birth and death.