Shloka 33
Mokṣa–Saṃnyāsa–Tyāga–Guṇa-Vibhāga (Renunciation, Relinquishment, and the Three Guṇas) — Mahābhārata 6, Bhīṣma-parva
जिस प्रकार सर्वत्र व्याप्त आकाश सूक्ष्म होनेके कारण लिप्त नहीं होता, वैसे ही देहमें सर्वत्र स्थित आत्मा निर्गुण होनेके कारण देहके गुणोंसे लिप्त नहीं होता* ।। सम्बन्ध-- शरीरमें स्थित होनेपर भी आत्मा कर्ता क्यों नहीं है? इसपर कहते हैं-- यथा प्रकाशयत्येक: कृत्स्नं लोकमिमं रवि: । क्षेत्र क्षेत्री तथा कृत्स्नं प्रकाशयति भारत,हे अर्जुन! जिस प्रकार एक ही सूर्य इस सम्पूर्ण ब्रह्माण्डको प्रकाशित करता है, उसी प्रकार एक ही आत्मा सम्पूर्ण क्षेत्रको प्रकाशित करता हैः
yathā sarvatragaṃ ākāśaṃ sūkṣmatvān na lipyate | tathā dehe sarvagato 'pi ātmā nirguṇatvān na lipyate || yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ kṛtsnaṃ lokam imaṃ raviḥ | kṣetraṃ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṃ prakāśayati bhārata ||
Arjuna said: Just as all-pervading space, because it is subtle, is not stained by anything, so too the Self—though present everywhere within the body—being beyond the qualities, is not tainted by the body’s qualities. And just as a single sun illumines this entire world, so the one Knower of the Field illumines the whole field of embodied experience, O Bharata.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The Self (kṣetrajña) is a pure witness: though present throughout the body and experiencing through it, it remains untouched by bodily qualities (guṇas), like space is unstained and like the sun illumines without being altered.
In the midst of the Kurukṣetra discourse, Arjuna voices (in this cited framing) a philosophical clarification using two analogies—space and the sun—to explain why the indwelling Self is not the doer and is not morally or materially contaminated by the body’s attributes.