Shloka 1
मृत्युकारणप्रश्नः / Inquiry into the Cause and Designation of Death
भीकम (2 अमान एकोनपज्चाशर्दाधिकद्विशततमो< ध्याय: ज्ञानके साधन तथा ज्ञानीके लक्षण और महिमा व्यास उवाच सृजते तु गुणान् सच्चं क्षेत्रज्ञस्त्वधितिष्ठति । गुणान् विक्रियत: सर्वानुदासीनवदी श्वर:
vyāsa uvāca | sṛjate tu guṇān satyaṃ kṣetrajñas tv adhitiṣṭhati | guṇān vikriyataḥ sarvān udāsīnavad īśvaraḥ ||
Vyāsa nói: “Quả thật, chính Prakṛti mới là kẻ sinh ra các guṇa. Kṣetrajña—Tự ngã, kẻ biết ‘cánh đồng’—ngự trị trên chúng; như người đứng ngoài, Đấng Chúa chỉ chứng kiến mọi guṇa ấy khi chúng biến đổi theo muôn dạng.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes between Prakṛti, which produces and transforms the guṇas, and the kṣetrajña (the conscious Self), which presides over them yet remains inwardly detached—like a witness—thus pointing toward liberation through non-identification with changing qualities.
In the Mokṣadharma section of Śānti Parva, Vyāsa instructs (in a teacherly tone) on metaphysical discernment: the world’s changing states belong to the guṇas of nature, while the Self/Lord is portrayed as the overseeing, non-entangled witness.