Shloka 9
जनक–पराशर संवादः — वर्ण-गोत्र-धर्मविचारः
Janaka–Parāśara: Varṇa, Gotra, and Dharma Inquiry
इस प्रकार यह समस्त स्थावर-जड़म शरीर पञ्चभूतमय ही है। प्रलयकालमें यह परमात्मामें ही लीन होता है और सृष्टिके आरम्भमें पुनः उन्हींसे प्रकट हो जाता है ।।
evaṁprakāraṁ idaṁ samastaṁ sthāvara-jaḍaṁ śarīraṁ pañcabhūtamayaṁ hi. pralayakāle tat paramātmani eva līyate ca sṛṣṭer ārambhe punaḥ tasmād eva prakaṭībhavati. mahābhūtāni pañcaiva sarvabhūteṣu bhūtakṛt; viṣayān kalpayāmāsa yasmin yad anupaśyati. sampūrṇa-bhūtānāṁ sṛṣṭi-kartā īśvaraḥ sarva-prāṇiṣu pañca-mahābhūtānāṁ vibhāga-pūrvakaṁ samāveśaṁ kṛtavān. dehasya bhitare yasya bhūtasya sthitau manuṣyaḥ yat karma paśyati, tat te vakṣyāmi; śṛṇu.
毗湿摩说道：“因此，此一切身——无论不动者或有情者——皆由五大（pañca-mahābhūta）所成。至于坏灭之时（pralaya），它唯独融入至上之我；而在创生之初，又从彼而显现。造化万有之主，将这五大分配安置于一切众生之中。今且听我说：随身体中何种元素为胜，人便以相应方式感知，并趋向某类作为。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
All embodied existence is constituted by the five great elements and ultimately returns to the Supreme Self at dissolution; the Lord distributes these elements within beings, shaping perception and activity according to elemental predominance.
In the Shanti Parva instruction, Bhishma continues his philosophical discourse, explaining to his listener(s) how the cosmos and the body arise from the Supreme, how they dissolve back into it, and introducing an analysis of how the five elements function within the body to condition experience and action.