Shloka 12
तुलाधार-उपदेशः
Tulādhāra’s Instruction to Jājali on Ahiṃsā and Abhaya-dāna
भीष्म उवाच आहुः षष्टिं बुद्धिगुणान् वै भूतविशिष्टा नित्यविषक्ता: । भूतविभूती श्चाक्षरसृष्टा: पुत्र न नित्यं तदिह वदन्ति
bhīṣma uvāca | āhuḥ ṣaṣṭiṁ buddhiguṇān vai bhūtaviśiṣṭā nityaviṣaktāḥ | bhūtavibhūtīś cākṣarasṛṣṭāḥ putra na nityaṁ tad iha vadanti |
毗湿摩说道：“人们宣说理智有六十种德相——依诸元素而分别，且恒与觉知相系。诸大种及其种种显现，皆为不坏者之所造；然而由于它们迁变无常，通达实相者在此世并不称其为‘常住’，我儿。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma conveys a discriminative point: although the elements and their evolutes arise from the Imperishable principle, they are not called eternal because they are subject to transformation. True knowledge distinguishes the unchanging source (akṣara) from changing manifestations (bhūtas and their vibhūtis).
In the Shanti Parva dialogue, Bhishma instructs Yudhisthira on philosophical categories. Here he reports the sages’ enumeration of the intellect’s qualities in relation to the elements and clarifies why the manifested world, though rooted in the Imperishable, is not termed eternal by those who know reality.