Shloka 17
Adhyāya 241: Guṇa-sṛṣṭi, Kṣetrajña-sākṣitva, and Śama through Ātma-jñāna (गुणसृष्टिः, क्षेत्रज्ञसाक्षित्वं, शमः)
एकादशविकारात्मा कलासम्भारसम्भृत: । मूर्तिमानिति तं विद्धि तात कर्मगुणात्मकम्
ekādaśa-vikārātmā kalā-sambhāra-sambhṛtaḥ | mūrtimān iti taṁ viddhi tāta karma-guṇātmakaṁ ||
毗湿摩说：“孩子啊，当知具身者名为‘有形者’（mūrtimān）：其体性由业与诸德（guṇa）所成；由十一种变相——心与诸根——构成，并负载由业所生之诸分（kalā）的积聚。故众生受生为作者，为业与三德所塑，如月一般，在具身之中受增减盛衰。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Embodiment is explained as karma-driven: the individual becomes ‘form-bearing’ by being constituted through the mind-and-senses complex (the ‘eleven modifications’) and by carrying the accumulated effects/constituents generated by past actions, all under the influence of the three guṇas.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction section, Bhishma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira on the nature of the embodied self and the mechanics of saṁsāra, describing how action and guṇas condition the rise of a body and its experiences of growth and decline.