Shloka 114
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
अव्यक्तं प्रकृतिं त्वासां कलानां कश्चिदिच्छति । व्यक्ते चासां तथा चान्य: स्थूलदर्शी प्रपश्यति
avyaktaṁ prakṛtiṁ tv āsāṁ kalānāṁ kaścid icchati | vyakte cāsāṁ tathā cānyaḥ sthūladarśī prapaśyati |
毗湿摩说道：“在这些构成的‘分分’（kalā）之中，有的论者以不显之自然（prakṛti，avyakta）为其质料因；另一些偏重粗显可感之分析者，则以显现者——即原子——为因。于是诸家随其见地不同，或归因于不显，或归因于显现（亦有兼融二者者）。”
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights competing philosophical accounts of material causality: some posit the unmanifest Prakṛti as the source of constituents, while others posit the manifest (atoms) as the cause. The ethical-intellectual point is humility and discernment: conclusions about reality depend on one’s standpoint and method of knowing.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction, Bhīṣma is explaining doctrinal differences among thinkers regarding the origin of constituents (kalās). He reports how various schools interpret the material cause—unmanifest Nature versus manifest atomic reality—within a broader teaching on knowledge and liberation-oriented inquiry.