Shloka 14
इन्द्र–बलि संवादः
The Dialogue of Indra and Bali on Fortune, Humility, and Restraint
मनस्यन्तर्तहितं द्वारं देहमास्थाय मानुषम् । यद् यत् सदसदव्यक्तं स्वपित्यस्मिन्निदर्शनम् । सर्वभूतात्मभूतस्थं तमध्यात्मगुणं विदुः
manasy antarhitaṃ dvāraṃ deham āsthāya mānuṣam | yad yat sadasad avyaktaṃ svapity asmin nidarśanam | sarvabhūtātma-bhūtasthaṃ tam adhyātma-guṇaṃ viduḥ |
स्वप्न-दर्शन का द्वारभूत जो स्थूल मानव देह है, वह सुषुप्ति-अवस्था में मन में लीन हो जाता है। उसी देह का आश्रय ले मन अव्यक्त, सदसत्स्वरूप एवं साक्षीभूत आत्मा को स्वप्न-रूप दर्शन में प्राप्त करता है। वह आत्मा सम्पूर्ण भूतों की आत्मा है; ज्ञानी पुरुष उसे अध्यात्मगुण से युक्त मानते हैं।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse points to the Self as the unmanifest reality that transcends categories of being and non-being, present within all beings. Sleep/dream is used as an analogy to show how the mind withdraws and yet ‘encounters’ a deeper principle recognized by the wise as adhyātma (inner spiritual reality).
In Bhishma’s instruction in the Shanti Parva, he explains an inner process of consciousness: the mind, relying on the human body as its ‘gateway,’ withdraws in sleep, and this condition becomes a teaching-example (nidarśana) for understanding the all-pervading Self that abides in every creature.