Shloka 37
Vyaktāvyakta-Viveka and Nivṛtti as Paramā Gati
Manifest–Unmanifest Discrimination and the Supreme Path of Withdrawal
इस प्रकार ये सम्पूर्ण पदार्थ समस्त चराचर जगत्का भार वहन करते हैं। ये सब जो प्रकृतिसे अतीत रजोगुणरहित हैं, उस परमदेव परमात्माके आश्रित हैं ।।
nava-dvāraṁ puraṁ puṇyam etair bhāvaiḥ samanvitam | vyāpya śete mahānātmā tasmāt puruṣa ucyate ||
毗湿摩阐明：如是诸法，荷负一切世间——动与不动。它们皆依于那超越普拉克利蒂、离罗阇（rajas）的至上天、至上我（Paramātman）。而此九门清净之“城”——即由这些原则具足而成的身——被大我从内遍满；彼内住之我在其中“安息”，遍入而不与物质成分混同。故名为“补卢沙”（Puruṣa）——“居于城（pura）者”——为内在之主宰，一切动静众生终归所依。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The body is described as a nine-gated ‘city’ made of material constituents, but the true ‘Person’ (Puruṣa) is the great Self that pervades and indwells it while remaining higher than prakṛti and its guṇas. Recognizing the Self as distinct from the body-mind complex is presented as a basis for spiritual discernment and liberation.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and higher knowledge, Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira about the constitution of the embodied being. He uses the metaphor of the body as a city with nine gates and identifies the indwelling, all-pervading Self as ‘Puruṣa,’ grounding ethical steadiness in metaphysical understanding.