Shloka 12
मनुरुवाच — इन्द्रिय-मनः-ज्ञान-क्रमः
Manu on the hierarchy of senses, mind, and knowledge
एष प्रवर्तको यज्ञो निवर्तकमथो शृणु । यथा निवर्तते कर्म जपतो ब्रह्मचारिण:
bhīṣma uvāca |
eṣa pravartako yajño nivartakam atho śṛṇu |
yathā nivartate karma japato brahmacāriṇaḥ ||
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
anivṛttaṃ paraṃ yat tad avyaktaṃ brahmaṇi sthitam |
tad-bhūto jāpakaḥ kasmāt sa śarīram ihāviśet ||
भीष्म म्हणाले—हा ‘प्रवर्तक यज्ञ’ आहे; आता ‘निवर्तक यज्ञ’ ऐक—ज्याप्रमाणे जप करणाऱ्या ब्रह्मचार्याची कर्मे निवृत्त होतात. युधिष्ठिर म्हणाला—जे परम तत्त्व अनिवृत्त, अव्यक्त आणि ब्रह्मात स्थित आहे, जापक जर त्याच्याशी तद्रूप झाला, तर तो येथे पुन्हा शरीरात का प्रवेश करील?
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage contrasts two modes of ‘yajña’ understood as spiritual discipline: one that initiates and purifies practice (pravartaka), and another that culminates in withdrawal from action and bondage (nivartaka), where karma is said to cease for the japa-focused brahmacārin—pointing toward liberation.
Bhishma continues his instruction to Yudhishthira on liberation-oriented disciplines, introducing the idea of a ‘withdrawing sacrifice’ that ends karmic activity. Yudhishthira then presses a philosophical doubt: if the japa practitioner becomes established in the unmanifest Brahman, why would such a realized person return to embodied life at all?