Shloka 12
मनुरुवाच — इन्द्रिय-मनः-ज्ञान-क्रमः
Manu on the hierarchy of senses, mind, and knowledge
एष प्रवर्तको यज्ञो निवर्तकमथो शृणु । यथा निवर्तते कर्म जपतो ब्रह्मचारिण:
bhīṣma uvāca |
eṣa pravartako yajño nivartakam atho śṛṇu |
yathā nivartate karma japato brahmacāriṇaḥ ||
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
anivṛttaṃ paraṃ yat tad avyaktaṃ brahmaṇi sthitam |
tad-bhūto jāpakaḥ kasmāt sa śarīram ihāviśet ||
ビーシュマは言った。「これが『起動の祭』（pravartaka-yajña）である。いま『回収の祭』（nivartaka-yajña）を聞け。その方法によって、ジャパに専心する梵行者の行為は止息する。」 ユディシュティラは言った。「回収されることのない至上の実在、未顕（avyakta）にして梵（Brahman）に安住するそれ—もしジャパの行者がそれと一つになるなら、なぜここで再び身体に入るのですか。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage contrasts two modes of ‘yajña’ understood as spiritual discipline: one that initiates and purifies practice (pravartaka), and another that culminates in withdrawal from action and bondage (nivartaka), where karma is said to cease for the japa-focused brahmacārin—pointing toward liberation.
Bhishma continues his instruction to Yudhishthira on liberation-oriented disciplines, introducing the idea of a ‘withdrawing sacrifice’ that ends karmic activity. Yudhishthira then presses a philosophical doubt: if the japa practitioner becomes established in the unmanifest Brahman, why would such a realized person return to embodied life at all?