Shloka 17
Adhyāya 241: Guṇa-sṛṣṭi, Kṣetrajña-sākṣitva, and Śama through Ātma-jñāna (गुणसृष्टिः, क्षेत्रज्ञसाक्षित्वं, शमः)
एकादशविकारात्मा कलासम्भारसम्भृत: । मूर्तिमानिति तं विद्धि तात कर्मगुणात्मकम्
ekādaśa-vikārātmā kalā-sambhāra-sambhṛtaḥ | mūrtimān iti taṁ viddhi tāta karma-guṇātmakaṁ ||
Wika ni Bhishma: “Alamin mo, anak, na ang taong may katawan (mūrtimān) ay may likas na karma at mga guṇa: binubuo siya ng labing-isang pagbabago—isip at mga pandama—at pasan niya ang naipong bigat ng mga ‘bahagi’ (kalā) na bunga ng gawa. Kaya ang nilalang ay isinisilang bilang gumagawa, hinuhubog ng karma at ng mga guṇa, at tulad ng buwan ay napapasailalim sa pagtaas at pagbaba habang may katawan.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
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.
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.