Shloka 17

Adhyāya 241: Guṇa-sṛṣṭi, Kṣetrajña-sākṣitva, and Śama through Ātma-jñāna (गुणसृष्टिः, क्षेत्रज्ञसाक्षित्वं, शमः)

Devanagari script

एकादशविकारात्मा कलासम्भारसम्भृत: । मूर्तिमानिति तं विद्धि तात कर्मगुणात्मकम्‌,“कर्मजन्य कलाओंके भारको धारण करनेवाला कर्मासक्त मनुष्य मन और इन्द्रियरूप ग्यारह विकारोंसे युक्त होकर जन्म धारण किया करता है। इस प्रकार वह मूर्तिमान्‌ (देहधारी) व्यक्ति होता है। तुम उसे कर्मफलसम्भूत त्रिगुणात्मक शरीरसे युक्त तथा चन्द्रमाके समान वृद्धि और हासका भागी होनेवाला समझो

Transliteration

ekādaśa-vikārātmā kalā-sambhāra-sambhṛtaḥ | mūrtimān iti taṁ viddhi tāta karma-guṇātmakaṁ ||

Translation

एकादशविकारात्मा कलासम्भारसम्भृतः । मूर्तिमानिति तं विद्धि तात कर्मगुणात्मकम् ॥

Word by Word

एकादशelevenfold

विकारात्माone whose nature consists of modifications (vikāras)

कलासम्भारसम्भृतःsupported/filled by a collection of parts (kalās)

मूर्तिमान्embodied, having form

इतिthus

तम्him/that

विद्धिknow (you)

तातdear one/son (address)

कर्मगुणात्मकम्having the nature of karma and guṇas

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma

embodied being (mūrtimān / jīva as doer)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Embodiment is explained as karma-driven: the individual becomes ‘form-bearing’ by being constituted through the mind-and-senses complex (the ‘eleven modifications’) and by carrying the accumulated effects/constituents generated by past actions, all under the influence of the three guṇas.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction section, Bhishma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira on the nature of the embodied self and the mechanics of saṁsāra, describing how action and guṇas condition the rise of a body and its experiences of growth and decline.