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:,द्विजश्रेष्ठ) पृथ्वी आदि सम्पूर्ण महाभूत सर्वत्र समान हैं; सम्पूर्ण प्राणियोंके शरीर उन्हींसे निर्मित हुए हैं तो भी उनमें क्षय और वृद्धि--ये दोनों विपरीतभाव क्यों होते हैं?
kathaṁ ca sarvabhūteṣu sameṣu dvijasattama | samyagvṛttā nivartante viparītāḥ kṣayodayāḥ ||
“اے بہترین دْوِج! جب زمین وغیرہ پانچ مہابھوت ہر جگہ یکساں ہیں اور تمام جانداروں کے جسم انہی سے بنے ہیں، تو پھر مخلوقات میں زوال اور افزائش—یہ دونوں متضاد حالتیں—کیوں پیدا ہوتی ہیں؟ اور کس درست ترتیب کے تحت یہ ظاہر ہو کر مٹتی ہیں؟”
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.