Shloka 13
Jarā-Mṛtyu-anatikrama: Janaka–Pañcaśikha-saṃvāda
Aging and Death Cannot Be Overstepped
सर्गप्रलयधर्मत्वादव्यक्त प्राहुरक्षरम् । तदेतद् गुणसर्गाय विकुर्वाणं पुन: पुन:
sarga-pralaya-dharmatvād avyaktaṃ prāhur akṣaram | tad etad guṇa-sargāya vikurvāṇaṃ punaḥ punaḥ ||
瓦西什塔说道：“由于生起与毁灭本为其自性，不显（Prakṛti，原质）被称为‘不坏’（akṣara）。然而正是这同一原质，为了显现诸‘德’（guṇa）的诸演化——如大（mahat）等——而一再变异，遂成为显相变迁之所依；因此亦被称为‘可坏’（kṣara）。”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes two ways of speaking about Prakṛti (the Unmanifest): as akṣara because it persists as the underlying principle through cycles of creation and dissolution, and as kṣara because it repeatedly transforms to produce the manifest evolutes (mahat and others) driven by the guṇas.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Vasiṣṭha explains cosmological process and terminology: how the unmanifest ground is described as imperishable in itself, yet is also called perishable insofar as it becomes the changing world through repeated modification.