Shloka 15
जनकस्य मोक्षमार्गप्रश्नः तथा पञ्चशिखोपदेश-प्रस्तावः | Janaka’s Path to Liberation: Prelude to Pañcaśikha’s Instruction
तथैतदन्तरं विद्यात् सत्त्वक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्बुध: । अभ्यासात् स तथा युक्तो न गच्छेत् प्रकृतिं पुन:
tathaitad antaraṁ vidyāt sattva-kṣetrajñayor budhaḥ | abhyāsāt sa tathā yukto na gacchet prakṛtiṁ punaḥ ||
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “Kaya dapat, dapat maunawaan ng marunong ang panloob na pagkakaiba ng sattva (ang maliwanag na hilig ng isip) at ng kṣetrajña (ang nakaaalam ng ‘bukirin’, ang Sarili). Kapag, dahil sa mahabang gawi, napagkakamalang iisa ang dalawa, ang nilalang na may katawan—na nabibigkis ng maling pagsasanib na iyon—ay hindi na nakababalik sa linaw ng sariling dalisay na kalikasan, at muling nahihila pabalik sa Prakṛti (ang may-kondisyong kalikasan).”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
One should clearly discriminate between sattva (a quality/state of the mind within nature) and the kṣetrajña (the conscious Self). Mistaking them as identical through long habituation keeps the being bound to Prakṛti and obscures recognition of one’s pure nature.
In the Shanti Parva’s post-war instruction, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira on inner discipline and philosophical discernment. Here he emphasizes a key Sāṅkhya-like distinction—mind/nature versus the witnessing Self—as essential for freedom from repeated entanglement in conditioned existence.