Shloka 15
जनकस्य मोक्षमार्गप्रश्नः तथा पञ्चशिखोपदेश-प्रस्तावः | Janaka’s Path to Liberation: Prelude to Pañcaśikha’s Instruction
तथैतदन्तरं विद्यात् सत्त्वक्षेत्रज्ञयोर्बुध: । अभ्यासात् स तथा युक्तो न गच्छेत् प्रकृतिं पुन:
tathaitad antaraṁ vidyāt sattva-kṣetrajñayor budhaḥ | abhyāsāt sa tathā yukto na gacchet prakṛtiṁ punaḥ ||
毗湿摩说道：“是故智者当知：萨埵（sattva，心之明净倾向）与田知者（kṣetrajña，自我）之间，内有分际。若因久习而将二者认作一体，具身之众生为此错合所缚，便不能复归自身清净本性的澄明，反被牵引再入普拉克里蒂（Prakṛti，有条件之自然）。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
One should clearly discriminate between sattva (a quality/state of the mind within nature) and the kṣetrajña (the conscious Self). Mistaking them as identical through long habituation keeps the being bound to Prakṛti and obscures recognition of one’s pure nature.
In the Shanti Parva’s post-war instruction, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira on inner discipline and philosophical discernment. Here he emphasizes a key Sāṅkhya-like distinction—mind/nature versus the witnessing Self—as essential for freedom from repeated entanglement in conditioned existence.