Shloka 8
जनकस्य मोक्षमार्गप्रश्नः तथा पञ्चशिखोपदेश-प्रस्तावः | Janaka’s Path to Liberation: Prelude to Pañcaśikha’s Instruction
अव्यक्तनाभं व्यक्तारं विकारपरिमण्डलम् । क्षेत्रज्ञाधिष्ठितं चक्र स्निग्धाक्षं वर्तते ध्रुवम्
Bhīṣma uvāca: avyaktanābhaṃ vyaktāraṃ vikāraparimaṇḍalam | kṣetrajñādhiṣṭhitaṃ cakraṃ snigdhākṣaṃ vartate dhruvam ||
毗湿摩说：“这世间生成之轮，确然不息地转动。其轮毂为未显（不显）；其辐条为显现之形——身与诸根。其轮缘由乐与苦、欲与诸变相等构成。其轮轴为执著；而‘知田者’（kṣetrajña，个体之我）端坐其上为御者。由是生死之流，周而复始地回转。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents saṃsāra as a wheel driven by attachment: the unmanifest ground becomes manifest experience, producing changing states like pleasure, pain, and desire. The kṣetrajña (self) is implicated as the ‘driver’ so long as it identifies with the wheel; freedom lies in discerning this mechanism and loosening attachment.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction section, Bhishma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira on liberation-oriented dharma. Here he uses a vivid metaphor—the wheel—to explain how embodied life revolves through birth and death under the forces of manifestation and mental modifications.