Shloka 5
कामद्रुम-रूपकः तथा शरीर-पुर-रूपकः
The Desire-Tree and the Body-as-City Metaphors
एवं सर्वेषु भूतेषु गूढो55त्मा न प्रकाशते | दृश्यते त्वग्र्यया बुद्धया सूक्ष्मया सूक्ष्मदर्शिभि:
evaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu gūḍho ’tmā na prakāśate | dṛśyate tv agryayā buddhyā sūkṣmayā sūkṣmadarśibhiḥ || iti tanmayam evedaṁ sarvaṁ sthāvara-jaṅgamam | sarge ca pralaye caiva tasmin nirdiśyate tathā ||
Vyāsa said: Thus, within all beings the Self lies hidden and does not become manifest to the senses. Yet it is beheld by subtle-seeing sages through a refined and subtle intelligence. Therefore this entire world—both the unmoving and the moving—is constituted of that (the elemental/manifest order): in creation all beings arise from it, and at dissolution all are said to merge back into it.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The Self is not an object of sensory perception; it is realized only through a purified, subtle, and discerning intellect cultivated by sages. The verse also frames the world-process as arising in creation and returning in dissolution to its underlying source/constituent basis.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Vyāsa is presenting a contemplative teaching: he explains why the supreme inner reality remains hidden to ordinary perception and how realized seers apprehend it, then links this insight to a broader account of cosmic origination and reabsorption.