Shloka 16
Brahmopadeśa on Saṃnyāsa, Tapas, and Jñāna (ब्रह्मोपदेशः—संन्यासतपोज्ञानविमर्शः)
यह देह एक वृक्षके समान है। अज्ञान इसका मूल (जड़) है
dvāv imau pakṣiṇau nityau saṅkṣepau cāpy acetānau | etābhyāṁ tu paro yo 'nyaś cetanāvān sa ucyate ||
伐由说道：“此身如一树。无明为根；觉知之智（buddhi）为干；我执（ahaṃkāra）为枝；诸根为芽与空穴；五大（pañca-mahābhūta）使其广大，并增其光彩。其上恒生意念之叶（saṅkalpa），恒开业行之花（karma）。由善业与恶业所得的乐与苦等，便是常悬其上的果。此身树由梵（Brahman）之种显现，随流而常在，是一切众生生命之所依。智者以真知之剑（tattva-jñāna）将此树斩碎，破除使人坠入生死与老之轮回的贪著之缚，离于占有，离于我慢，则必得解脱；此无疑也。又有二鸟恒常同在——微细而自身无独立觉知；然超越此二者，尚有更高之理：真正有觉者。唯彼被称为有情之真实。”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes between two ever-present ‘bird-like’ principles that are described as non-sentient, and a third, higher reality that is truly conscious. The ethical and spiritual thrust is to recognize consciousness as distinct from the mechanisms of embodied life, and to orient oneself toward that higher sentient principle for liberation.
In Ashvamedhika Parva, Vāyudeva is instructing the listener in a liberation-oriented teaching. After describing the body as a tree sustained by ignorance and karma (in the surrounding passage), he compresses the metaphysical point here: beyond the paired factors associated with embodiment, there is a superior conscious reality.