Shloka 21
Mokṣa–Saṃnyāsa–Tyāga–Guṇa-Vibhāga (Renunciation, Relinquishment, and the Three Guṇas) — Mahābhārata 6, Bhīṣma-parva
पुरुष: प्रकृतिस्थो हि भुड्क्ते प्रकृतिजान् गुणान् । कारणं गुणसड्रो5स्य सदसद्योनिजन्मसु,प्रकृतिमें स्थित ही पुरुष प्रकृतिसे उत्पन्न त्रिगुणात्मक पदार्थोंकी भोगता हैः और इन गुणोंका संग ही इस जीवात्माके अच्छी-बुरी योनियोंमें जन्म लेनेका कारण है
puruṣaḥ prakṛtistho hi bhuṅkte prakṛtijān guṇān | kāraṇaṁ guṇasaṅgo ’sya sadasadyonijanmasu ||
Arjuna said: The embodied self, abiding in material nature, experiences the qualities born of nature. Attachment to these qualities is the cause of its birth in good and evil wombs—thus moral and spiritual destiny is shaped by the company one keeps with the guṇas rather than by mere circumstance.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The soul’s repeated birth into higher or lower conditions is driven by its attachment and identification with the guṇas of prakṛti; ethical and spiritual progress depends on loosening this guṇa-saṅga and cultivating discernment.
In the Bhīṣma Parva’s philosophical instruction, Arjuna voices a doctrinal point about how the embodied self, while dwelling in prakṛti, undergoes experiences shaped by the guṇas, and how this association becomes the causal link to future births.