Shloka 52
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
अमृत्युर्मुत्युमात्मानमचरश्नचरमात्मन: । अक्षेत्र: क्षेत्रमात्मानमसर्ग: सर्गमात्मन:
amṛtyur mṛtyum ātmānam acaraś caram ātmanaḥ | akṣetraḥ kṣetram ātmānam asargaḥ sargam ātmanaḥ ||
婆悉吒说道：“他实则离死，而妄自以为受死所制；实则不动，而自认能动；实则异于‘田’（kṣetra：身与其诸条件），却执身为我；实则与创造无涉，却以创造为己身。由此错认，真我被误作其所照明之物；系缚由虚妄认同而生，并非由真实而起。”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that bondage arises from misidentification: the deathless, unmoving Self is mistakenly taken to be the mortal, moving body-mind and the world of creation. Recognizing the Self as distinct from kṣetra (the field of experience) dissolves fear of death and the sense of limitation.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and liberation, Vasiṣṭha explains to his listener that the true Self is untouched by death, motion, embodiment, and creation; the apparent suffering of the individual comes from taking these non-self attributes to be ‘I’.