Shloka 15
जनकस्य मोक्षमार्गप्रश्नः तथा पञ्चशिखोपदेश-प्रस्तावः | Janaka’s Path to Liberation: Prelude to Pañcaśikha’s Instruction
तथैतदन्तरं विद्यात् सत्त्वक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्बुध: । अभ्यासात् स तथा युक्तो न गच्छेत् प्रकृतिं पुन:
tathaitad antaraṁ vidyāt sattva-kṣetrajñayor budhaḥ | abhyāsāt sa tathā yukto na gacchet prakṛtiṁ punaḥ ||
ビーシュマは言った。「ゆえに賢者は、サットヴァ（心の光明なる傾向）と田知者（クシェートラジュニャ、自己）との内なる差別を知るべきである。長き習慣によって両者をあたかも一つと同一視するに至れば、その誤った結合に縛られた具身の者は、自らの清浄なる本性の明澄へと帰ることができず、再びプラクリティ（条件づけられた自然）へ引き戻される。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
One should clearly discriminate between sattva (a quality/state of the mind within nature) and the kṣetrajña (the conscious Self). Mistaking them as identical through long habituation keeps the being bound to Prakṛti and obscures recognition of one’s pure nature.
In the Shanti Parva’s post-war instruction, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira on inner discipline and philosophical discernment. Here he emphasizes a key Sāṅkhya-like distinction—mind/nature versus the witnessing Self—as essential for freedom from repeated entanglement in conditioned existence.