Shloka 30
धर्मस्य बहुद्वारत्वम् — Nārada’s Audience with Indra (Śānti-parva 340)
खे वायु: प्रलयं याति मनस्थाकाशमेव च । मनो हि परम भूतं तदव्यक्ते प्रलीयते,“वायुका आकाभशमें लय होता है, आकाश मनमें विलीन होता है। मन उत्कृष्ट भूत है। वह अव्यक्त प्रकृतिमें लीन होता है
khe vāyuḥ pralayaṃ yāti manas tākāśam eva ca | mano hi paramaṃ bhūtaṃ tad avyakte pralīyate ||
Bhīṣma said: At dissolution, the wind merges into space, and space itself merges into the mind. The mind is indeed the highest of the elemental principles; and that mind, in turn, dissolves into the Unmanifest (Prakṛti). In this teaching, Bhīṣma traces the inward course of dissolution to show that what seems most solid and external finally resolves into subtler causes, urging the listener toward detachment and discernment of the ultimate ground beyond sensory phenomena.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma presents a hierarchy of dissolution: wind resolves into space, space into mind, and mind into the Unmanifest (Prakṛti). The point is to cultivate vairāgya (detachment) and viveka (discernment) by seeing that all perceptible and even subtle phenomena are contingent and ultimately reabsorbed into subtler causes.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and higher knowledge, Bhīṣma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira by explaining Sāṅkhya-like principles of cosmic reabsorption (pralaya), mapping how elements and inner faculties withdraw into their sources.