Shloka 5
Skanda-janma: Śivā/Svāhā, Agni, and the Manifestation of Guha
Mahābhārata 3.214
स जन्तु: सर्वभूतात्मा पुरुष: स सनातन: । महान् बुद्धिरहड्कारो भूतानां विषयश्न सः,वह प्राण ही जीव है, वही समस्त प्राणियोंका आत्मा है, वही सनातन पुरुष है, महत्तत्त्व, बुद्धि और अहंकार तथा पाँचों भूतोंके कार्यरूप इन्द्रियाँ और उनके विषय सब कुछ वही है (क्योंकि इस शरीरमें सबकी स्थिति उसीके आश्रित है और भविष्यमें मिलनेवाले शरीरमें जाना-आना भी इसीके आश्रित रहकर होता है। इसलिये यह प्राणकी स्तुति की गयी है):
sa jantuḥ sarvabhūtātmā puruṣaḥ sa sanātanaḥ | mahān buddhir ahaṅkāro bhūtānāṁ viṣayaś ca saḥ ||
The hunter said: “That living principle is the Self of all beings; it is the eternal Person. It is also the Great Principle (mahat), the intellect, and the sense of ‘I’ (ego). It is the senses that function through the elements and their objects as well—indeed, everything here depends upon it. Therefore this vital principle is praised, for the body’s continuance and the being’s passage to future embodiment rest upon it.”
व्याध उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches an integrative view of the living principle: the same reality underlies life (prāṇa/jīva), the universal Self, and the inner faculties (mahat, buddhi, ahaṅkāra) along with sense-activity and its objects. Recognizing this unity supports ethical clarity and detachment, since all embodied functioning depends on that one sustaining principle.
In the Vyādha’s instruction on dharma, he explains to his listener that what appears as individual life is rooted in a single sustaining principle. He frames this as a reason for praising prāṇa/life-force, because bodily existence and the transition to future embodiment depend upon it.