Shloka 36
Adhyāya 302: Guṇa-vicāra, Gati-bheda, and the Imperishable State
Yājñavalkya–Janaka
एतदक्षरमित्युक्तं क्षरतीदं यथा जगत् | जगन्मोहात्मकं प्राहुरव्यक्ताद् व्यक्तसंज्ञकम्,इससे भिन्न जो तत्त्व है, उसे अक्षर कहा गया है। इस प्रकार उस अव्यक्त अक्षरसे उत्पन्न हुआ यह व्यक्तसंज्ञक मोहात्मक जगत् क्षरित होनेके कारण क्षर नाम धारण करता है
etad akṣaram ity uktaṃ kṣaratīdaṃ yathā jagat | jagan-mohātmakam prāhur avyaktād vyakta-saṃjñakam |
ヴァシシュタは言った。「これとは別なる実在は『アクシャラ（Akṣara）』、すなわち不滅と呼ばれる。だが、われらが見るこの世界は滅び、過ぎ去ってゆく。ゆえに賢者たちは、この宇宙—未顕（アヴィヤクタ）より生じ、顕（ヴィヤクタ）と知られるもの—を『迷妄の性をもつ』と説き、また衰滅するがゆえに『クシャラ（Kṣara）』、滅びゆくものと名づけるのだ。」
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes the Imperishable (akṣara)—the enduring, unchanging principle—from the Perishable (kṣara)—the manifest world that continually decays. It frames the phenomenal universe as arising from the unmanifest and as inherently delusive, urging discernment between what changes and what does not.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation and right understanding, Vasiṣṭha is teaching a metaphysical discrimination: the sages name the unchanging reality ‘Akṣara,’ while the manifest cosmos, produced from the unmanifest and characterized by moha, is called ‘Kṣara’ because it is subject to dissolution.