Shloka 12
तुलाधार-उपदेशः
Tulādhāra’s Instruction to Jājali on Ahiṃsā and Abhaya-dāna
भीष्म उवाच आहुः षष्टिं बुद्धिगुणान् वै भूतविशिष्टा नित्यविषक्ता: । भूतविभूती श्चाक्षरसृष्टा: पुत्र न नित्यं तदिह वदन्ति
bhīṣma uvāca | āhuḥ ṣaṣṭiṁ buddhiguṇān vai bhūtaviśiṣṭā nityaviṣaktāḥ | bhūtavibhūtīś cākṣarasṛṣṭāḥ putra na nityaṁ tad iha vadanti |
भीष्म उवाच—आहुः षष्टिं बुद्धिगुणान् वै भूतविशिष्टान् नित्यविषक्तान्। भूतविभूतयश्चाक्षरसृष्टाः; पुत्र, परिवर्तनशीलत्वात् तत्त्वविदो नैनानिह नित्यान् वदन्ति॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma conveys a discriminative point: although the elements and their evolutes arise from the Imperishable principle, they are not called eternal because they are subject to transformation. True knowledge distinguishes the unchanging source (akṣara) from changing manifestations (bhūtas and their vibhūtis).
In the Shanti Parva dialogue, Bhishma instructs Yudhisthira on philosophical categories. Here he reports the sages’ enumeration of the intellect’s qualities in relation to the elements and clarifies why the manifested world, though rooted in the Imperishable, is not termed eternal by those who know reality.