Shloka 54
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
यं त्रिधा55त्मानमात्मस्थं वृतं षोडशभिय्गुणै: । प्राहु: सप्तदशं सांख्यास्तस्मै सांख्यात्मने नम:
yaṁ tridhātmānam ātmasthaṁ vṛtaṁ ṣoḍaśabhir guṇaiḥ | prāhuḥ saptadaśaṁ sāṅkhyās tasmai sāṅkhyātmane namaḥ ||
Bhishma said: Salutations to the Supreme Self, known in Sāṅkhya as the seventeenth principle—the Puruṣa—who, though appearing threefold through sattva, rajas, and tamas, remains established in His own nature, even when seemingly veiled by the sixteen evolutes born of the guṇas.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The Self (Puruṣa) is intrinsically unchanged and self-established, even though it appears conditioned by the three guṇas and their sixteen products. Ethical and spiritual freedom comes from discriminating the witness-Self from the changing field of qualities and effects.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhīṣma offers a reverential Sāṅkhya-style description of the Puruṣa, praising the transcendent Self that seems covered by the guṇic evolutes yet remains untouched in essence.