Shloka 1
अव्यक्त–व्यक्त–कारणकार्यविवेकः
Avyakta–Vyakta and Causality: Discrimination of Field and Knower
अपना छा अकाल चतुरराधिकद्विशततमो< ध्याय: आत्मा एवं परमात्माके साक्षात्कारका उपाय तथा महत्त्व मनुर्वाच यथा व्यक्तमिदं शेते स्वप्ने चरति चेतनम् । ज्ञानमिन्द्रियसंयुक्तं तद्धत् प्रेत्म भवाभवौ
manur uvāca—yathā vyaktam idaṁ śete svapne carati cetanam | jñānam indriya-saṁyuktaṁ tadvad pretyaṁ bhavābhavau ||
Manu dit : «Ô Bṛhaspati, de même que, dans le rêve, le corps visible (grossier) demeure endormi tandis que le principe conscient va et vient, de même, lorsqu’on quitte ce corps, le Soi, de nature connaissance, soit reprend une autre incarnation avec les sens, soit—comme l’immobilité du sommeil profond—atteint la délivrance.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Consciousness is distinct from the gross body: as the dreamer’s awareness operates while the body rests, so the jīva after death either continues with senses into another birth or, when freed from such association, reaches cessation of rebirth (mokṣa).
Within Bhīṣma’s instruction in Śānti Parva, a cited teaching of Manu addressed to Bṛhaspati explains the post-mortem course of the self using the dream-state analogy, framing rebirth versus liberation as outcomes tied to the self’s connection with the senses.