Shloka 1
जनकस्य मोक्षमार्गप्रश्नः तथा पञ्चशिखोपदेश-प्रस्तावः | Janaka’s Path to Liberation: Prelude to Pañcaśikha’s Instruction
ऑपनआक्रात [छ। अ्--क्ाजण एकादशाधिकद्वधिशततमो<्ध्याय: संसारचक्र और जीवात्माकी स्थितिका वर्णन गुरुर्वाच चतुर्विधानि भूतानि स्थावराणि चराणि च । अव्यक्तप्रभवान्याहुरव्यक्तनिधनानि च । अव्यक्तलक्षणं विद्यादव्यक्तात्मात्मकं मन:
bhīṣma uvāca | guruḥ uvāca—caturvidhāni bhūtāni sthāvarāṇi carāṇi ca | avyaktaprabhavāny āhur avyaktanidhanāni ca | avyaktalakṣaṇaṃ vidyād avyaktātmātmakam manaḥ |
毗湿摩说：师长说道——“爱子啊，众生有四类，不论是不动者还是动者。人们说它们从未显（不显现者）而生，又复归于未显而灭。凡无可见之相者，当知为‘未显’。心亦具未显之性——由三德（guṇa）所成。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
All beings—whether immobile or mobile—originate from the Unmanifest (avyakta) and ultimately dissolve back into it; the mind itself is also rooted in that unmanifest, tri-guṇa nature. The teaching frames existence as a cyclical emergence and reabsorption, encouraging discernment of the unmanifest ground behind changing forms.
Within Bhīṣma’s instruction in the Śānti Parva, a teacher addresses a disciple and begins a metaphysical explanation of saṃsāra: classification of beings, their source and end in the avyakta, and the status of mind as tri-guṇa and akin to the unmanifest principle.