Shloka 7
कर्मविद्या-भेदः
Karma–Vidyā Distinction: Paths of Bondage and Release
अपामपि गुणं॑ तात ज्योतिराददते यदा | आपस्तदा त्वात्तगुणा ज्योति:षूपरमन्ति वै,वत्स! तदनन्तर तेज जलके गुण रसको ग्रहण कर लेता है और रसहीन जल तेजमें लीन हो जाता है
apām api guṇaṃ tāta jyotir ādadate yadā | āpas tadā tvāttaguṇā jyotiḥṣu uparamanti vai, vatsa |
ヴィヤーサは言った。「わが子よ、火が水の性質さえも取り込むとき、水はその性質を奪われて、まことに火の中に安住し（吸収され）てしまう、子よ。」倫理・哲学の文脈では、より微細で強い原理が他の元素の決定的性質を奪い取るさまを示す。性質が引き抜かれれば、もはや独立して立てず、他へ融け入ると説かれる——滅尽、依存、そして構成要素の階梯を語る譬えである。
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a model of dissolution and dependence: when a dominant principle (here, fire/light) takes over the defining quality (guṇa) of another (water), the latter—deprived of its own defining attribute—loses separate status and is said to merge into the former. It supports a broader ethical-philosophical point in Śānti Parva about understanding constituents of reality and cultivating detachment from what is transient and derivative.
Vyāsa addresses a disciple/son affectionately (“tāta”, “vatsa”) and explains, through elemental imagery, how one element can absorb another during processes of transformation or dissolution: fire takes the ‘quality’ of water, and water, having lost that quality, subsides into fire.