Shloka 27
Vyaktāvyakta-Viveka and Nivṛtti as Paramā Gati
Manifest–Unmanifest Discrimination and the Supreme Path of Withdrawal
जैसे एक दीपकसे दूसरे सहस्रों दीप जला लिये जाते हैं और पहले दीपकको कोई हानि नहीं होती, उसी प्रकार एक प्रकृति ही असंख्य पदार्थोंको उत्पन्न करती है और अनन्त होनेके कारण उसका क्षय नहीं होता ।।
bhīṣma uvāca | yathā ekena dīpena dvitīyāḥ sahasraśo dīpāḥ prajvālyante na ca pūrvasya dīpasya kaścid vyayo bhavati, tathā ekā prakṛtir eva asaṅkhyeyān padārthān utpādayati anantatvāt ca tasyāḥ kṣayo na vidyate || avyakta-karmajā buddhir ahaṅkāraṃ prasūyate | ākāśaṃ cāpy ahaṅkārād vāyur ākāśa-sambhavaḥ ||
毗湿摩说道：正如由一盏灯可以点燃千盏灯，而原灯毫无损失，同样，唯一的自然本原（Prakṛti）生出无量诸法；且因其无穷无尽，故不减不耗。当未显的自然本原（avyakta）被搅动而起作用时，智性——大原理（mahat）便生；由此智性生我慢（ahaṅkāra）。由我慢生虚空（ākāśa），由虚空生风（vāyu）。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma explains Sāṅkhya-style causation: the unmanifest Prakṛti, though producing countless effects, is not diminished—like a lamp lighting many lamps. From the agitation of Prakṛti arises buddhi (mahat), from buddhi arises ahaṅkāra, and from ahaṅkāra arises ākāśa, leading onward to vāyu. The ethical implication is detachment: seeing the world as a chain of principles helps loosen identification with ego and its products.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and higher knowledge. Here he shifts into metaphysical exposition, using a vivid everyday analogy (lamp-to-lamps) to clarify how the primordial cause can generate many effects without being exhausted, and then outlines an early sequence of cosmic evolution (Prakṛti → buddhi → ahaṅkāra → ākāśa → vāyu).