Shloka 6
Vyaktāvyakta-Viveka and Nivṛtti as Paramā Gati
Manifest–Unmanifest Discrimination and the Supreme Path of Withdrawal
कथं च सर्वभूतेषु समेषु द्विजसत्तम | सम्यग्वृत्ता निवर्तन्ते विपरीता: क्षयोदया:
kathaṁ ca sarvabhūteṣu sameṣu dvijasattama | samyagvṛttā nivartante viparītāḥ kṣayodayāḥ ||
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “O pinakadakila sa mga dalawang-ulit na isinilang, kung ang mga dakilang sangkap—mula sa lupa—ay magkakatulad sa lahat ng dako, at kung ang mga katawan ng lahat ng nilalang ay hinubog mula sa mga sangkap ding iyon, bakit kung gayon lumilitaw sa mga nilalang ang magkasalungat na kalagayan ng paghina at pag-unlad? Sa anong wastong kaayusan nagaganap at naglalaho ang mga pagsalungat na ito?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a philosophical problem: if the material constituents (the great elements) are uniform everywhere, what accounts for unequal outcomes in embodied life—growth and decline? It points toward deeper causal principles beyond mere material sameness, such as differing combinations, conditions, time, and governing laws (dharma/niyati/karma) that regulate manifestation.
In the Śānti Parva’s instructional dialogue, Bhīṣma raises a probing question to a learned brāhmaṇa interlocutor. He challenges a simplistic material explanation of life by asking why opposite states—increase and decrease—appear among beings whose bodies are made from the same universal elements.