Shloka 114
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
अव्यक्तं प्रकृतिं त्वासां कलानां कश्चिदिच्छति । व्यक्ते चासां तथा चान्य: स्थूलदर्शी प्रपश्यति
avyaktaṁ prakṛtiṁ tv āsāṁ kalānāṁ kaścid icchati | vyakte cāsāṁ tathā cānyaḥ sthūladarśī prapaśyati |
ビーシュマは言った。「これらの構成要素たる『分』（kalā）について、ある論者は不顕の自然（prakṛti, avyakta）をその質料因とみなす。別の者は、粗大で触知しうるものの分析に傾き、顕現したもの――すなわち原子――を原因と見る。かくして諸学派は、その見方に応じて、不顕に、あるいは顕現に（また両者を調停して）因を配するのである。」
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights competing philosophical accounts of material causality: some posit the unmanifest Prakṛti as the source of constituents, while others posit the manifest (atoms) as the cause. The ethical-intellectual point is humility and discernment: conclusions about reality depend on one’s standpoint and method of knowing.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma is explaining doctrinal differences among thinkers regarding the origin of constituents (kalās). He reports how various schools interpret the material cause—unmanifest Nature versus manifest atomic reality—within a broader teaching on knowledge and liberation-oriented inquiry.