Shloka 29
Śrī–Indra–Bali Saṃvāda: The Departure and Fourfold Placement of Lakṣmī
रेतो वटकणीकायां घृतपाकाधिवासनम् | जाति: स्मृतिरयस्कान्त: सूर्यकान्तो<म्बुभक्षणम्
reto vaṭakaṇīkāyāṃ ghṛtapākādhivāsanam | jātiḥ smṛtir ayaskāntaḥ sūryakānto ’mbubhakṣaṇam ||
毗湿摩说道：“譬如参天榕树潜藏于一粒微细之种；譬如酥油等精华从牛所食之物中显现；又譬如某些草药经烹煮浸渍便生出醉人之力——同样地，由精液而显现身体，乃至知觉之相亦随之而起。然而，诸如生类之别（jāti）、记忆、磁石、日光石，或海底之火‘饮海’之喻，皆不足以单凭其自身，确立有一离身而存的意识。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma argues that the emergence of life and apparent consciousness can be explained as arising with the body from causal material factors (illustrated by seed-to-tree and extraction/infusion analogies). He cautions that certain popular examples (memory, magnets, sun-stones, etc.) do not by themselves prove an independent, body-separate consciousness.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction to Yudhishthira, Bhishma continues a philosophical discussion using a chain of analogies to evaluate claims about the self and consciousness, distinguishing what analogies can legitimately establish and what they cannot.