Shloka 4
कामद्रुम-रूपकः तथा शरीर-पुर-रूपकः
The Desire-Tree and the Body-as-City Metaphors
महत: परमव्यक्तमव्यक्तात् परतो$मृतम् | अमृतान्न परं किंचित् सा काष्ठा सा परा गति:
vyāsa uvāca |
mahataḥ param avyaktam avyaktāt parato 'mṛtam |
amṛtān na paraṃ kiñcit sā kāṣṭhā sā parā gatiḥ |
prasāryeha yathāṅgāni kūrmaḥ saṃharate punaḥ |
tadvan mahānti bhūtāni yavīyaḥsu vikurvate |
ヴィヤーサは言った。「大原理（mahat）の上には不顕（アヴィヤクタ）があり、不顕の上には不死なるもの—至上の自己—がある。その不死の実在より高きものは何ひとつない。それこそ究竟の極み、最後の帰趣である。 亀が四方に肢を伸ばし、また引き収めるように、五大は小さき身の形へと広がり、また退いてゆく—絶えず顕れ、絶えず融け去る。」
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Reality is presented in an ascending order: beyond the cosmic intellect (mahat) is the Unmanifest (avyakta), and beyond that is the Deathless Supreme (amṛta). Nothing surpasses this Supreme; it is the final goal (parā gati). Embodied existence is depicted as a reversible transformation of the elements—arising and dissolving—so liberation lies in turning toward the Deathless rather than clinging to transient forms.
Vyāsa is instructing about the structure of reality and the fate of embodied beings. He uses a vivid simile—like a tortoise extending and withdrawing its limbs—to explain how the great elements repeatedly project into smaller bodies and then retract, emphasizing the cyclical nature of manifestation and dissolution under prakṛti, while pointing to the Supreme as the only ultimate refuge.