Shloka 19
Yoga, Nārāyaṇa as Supreme Principle, and the Emanation of Categories
Sāṅkhya-Yoga Outline
उत्पत्तिवृद्धिवयसा यथा स इति गृहाते । चन्द्र एव त्वमावास्यां तथा भवति मूर्तिमान्
utpatti-vṛddhi-vayasā yathā sa iti gṛhyate | candra eva tvam amāvasyāṁ tathā bhavati mūrtimān ||
Bhīṣma dit : «De même qu’à travers la naissance, la croissance et les âges successifs, on comprend qu’il s’agit toujours de la même personne, de même la Lune—bien qu’elle disparaisse à la nuit de nouvelle lune—lorsqu’elle redevient visible, est tenue pour cette même Lune. Ainsi, lorsque le Soi incarné entre dans un autre corps, il faut comprendre que c’est le même Soi qui se poursuit.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Continuity of identity despite change: just as a person is regarded as the same individual through different life-stages, and the Moon is regarded as the same Moon after disappearing at amāvasyā, so the self remains the same even when it takes another body.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and philosophical truths. Here he uses everyday analogies—human aging and the Moon’s reappearance—to clarify the doctrine of the enduring self across bodily change.