Shloka 13
Jarā-Mṛtyu-anatikrama: Janaka–Pañcaśikha-saṃvāda
Aging and Death Cannot Be Overstepped
सर्गप्रलयधर्मत्वादव्यक्त प्राहुरक्षरम् । तदेतद् गुणसर्गाय विकुर्वाणं पुन: पुन:
sarga-pralaya-dharmatvād avyaktaṃ prāhur akṣaram | tad etad guṇa-sargāya vikurvāṇaṃ punaḥ punaḥ ||
Vasiṣṭha said: Because creation and dissolution are intrinsic to it, the Unmanifest (Prakṛti) is called the imperishable (akṣara). Yet that very Prakṛti, repeatedly transforming itself in order to project the evolutes of the guṇas—such as mahat and the rest—becomes the basis of manifest change; therefore it is also spoken of as perishable (kṣara).
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes two ways of speaking about Prakṛti (the Unmanifest): as akṣara because it persists as the underlying principle through cycles of creation and dissolution, and as kṣara because it repeatedly transforms to produce the manifest evolutes (mahat and others) driven by the guṇas.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Vasiṣṭha explains cosmological process and terminology: how the unmanifest ground is described as imperishable in itself, yet is also called perishable insofar as it becomes the changing world through repeated modification.