Shloka 42
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
(सूर्यमव्यक्तमित्युक्तमतिसूर्यस्तु निष्कल: । अविद्या प्रकृतिज्ञेया विद्या पुरुष उच्यते ।।
yājñavalkya uvāca |
(sūryam avyaktam ity uktam ati-sūryas tu niṣkalaḥ |
avidyā prakṛtir jñeyā vidyā puruṣa ucyate ||)
tathaivāvedyam avyaktam vedyaḥ puruṣa ucyate |
calācalam iti proktaṃ tvayā vā tad api me śṛṇu ||
Yājñavalkya sprach: „Das unmanifestierte Prinzip nennt man ‘Sonne’; doch die teil-lose, eigenschaftslose Wirklichkeit heißt ‘jenseits der Sonne’. Erkenne Prakṛti als Unwissenheit (avidyā) und den Puruṣa als Wissen (vidyā). Ebenso wird das Unmanifestierte als ‘unerkennbar’ bezeichnet, während der Puruṣa ‘erkennbar’ heißt. Und was du nach dem Bewegten und dem Unbewegten fragtest—höre nun auch darauf die Antwort.“
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes two principles: Prakṛti, identified with avidyā (ignorance) and the unmanifest basis of change, and Puruṣa, identified with vidyā (knowledge) as the knowable conscious reality. It uses metaphors (‘sun’ and ‘beyond-sun’) to indicate levels of subtlety and transcendence, pointing toward liberation through right discernment.
In the Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Yājñavalkya answers a questioner by defining key metaphysical categories—unmanifest nature and conscious self—and then signals that he will proceed to explain the distinction between the moving and the unmoving.