Shloka 29
Jvarotpatti — The Origin and Distribution of Jvara
Fever
अथवा सशरीरास्ते गुणा: सर्वे शरीरिणाम् । संश्रितास्तद् वियोगे हि सशरीरा न सन्ति ते
athavā saśarīrās te guṇāḥ sarve śarīriṇām | saṃśritās tad-viyoge hi saśarīrā na santi te ||
O bien: todas esas cualidades y facultades, junto con el cuerpo, dependen del ser encarnado. Pues cuando el yo viviente se separa, ni el cuerpo ni esos principios ligados al cuerpo permanecen como antes. La enseñanza subraya que el aparato psico-físico es contingente y perecedero; por ello, conviene aflojar la identificación con el cuerpo y sus funciones, reconociendo su dependencia del yo que mora en su interior.
असित उवाच
Educational Q&A
The body and its operative faculties (guṇas in the sense of embodied constituents) are dependent on the presence of the indwelling self; when the self departs, the body and those functions no longer persist. Therefore one should not take the psycho-physical complex as the ultimate self.
Asita is explaining a metaphysical point within the Shānti Parva’s instruction: he argues that the constituents of embodied existence remain only so long as the living self is connected with the body; separation (death) reveals their contingent nature.