Shloka 8
Adhyāya 241: Guṇa-sṛṣṭi, Kṣetrajña-sākṣitva, and Śama through Ātma-jñāna (गुणसृष्टिः, क्षेत्रज्ञसाक्षित्वं, शमः)
कर्मणा जायते प्रेत्य मूर्तिमान्ू षोडशात्मक: । विद्यया जायते नित्यमव्यक्त हाव्ययात्मकम्,“कर्म करनेसे मनुष्य मृत्युके पश्चात् सोलह- तत्त्वोंके बने हुए मूर्तिमान शरीरको धारण करके जन्म लेता है; किन्तु ज्ञानके प्रभावसे जीव नित्य, अव्यक्त, अविनाशी परमात्माको प्राप्त होता है
bhīṣma uvāca | karmaṇā jāyate pretya mūrtimān ṣoḍaśātmakaḥ | vidyayā jāyate nityam avyaktam avyayātmakam ||
कर्मणा जायते प्रेत्य मूर्तिमान् षोडशात्मकः । विद्यया जायते नित्यमव्यक्ताव्ययात्मकम् ॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Actions (karma) bind the self to post-mortem rebirth in an embodied form made of the ‘sixteen principles,’ whereas liberating knowledge (vidyā/jñāna) leads to realization/attainment of the unmanifest, imperishable reality—i.e., freedom from embodied becoming.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation, Bhishma continues his discourse to Yudhishthira by contrasting two paths and outcomes: karmic continuity producing another embodied existence versus knowledge culminating in the unmanifest, undecaying principle (paramātman/brahman).