Shloka 14
धर्मद्वारबहुत्वविमर्शः — Reflection on the Many ‘Doors’ of Dharma (Śānti-parva 342)
प्रकृति: सा परा महां रोदसी योगधारिणी । ऋता सत्यामराजय्या लोकानामात्मसंज्ञिता
prakṛtiḥ sā parā mahān rodasī yogadhāriṇī | ṛtā satyāmarājyayyā lokānāmātmasaṃjñitā ||
Arjuna sprach: „Jene höchste Prakṛti ist weit und groß—das innere Wesen von Erde und Himmel—und durch die Kraft des Yoga trägt sie alle Welten. Sie ist Ṛtā, der geordnete Lauf, in dem Taten zu ihren Früchten reifen; sie ist Satyā, die Wahrheit, die in den drei Zeiten nicht widerlegt wird. Unsterblich und unbesiegbar ist sie als das Selbst aller Wesen in allen Welten bekannt.“
अर्जुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies the supreme Prakṛti as the sustaining, yogic power that underlies the cosmos—earth and sky included—and equates her with Ṛta (moral-cosmic order and karmic fruition) and Satya (timeless truth). It frames ultimate reality as both the lawful order governing action and the inner Self of all worlds, emphasizing invincibility and immortality as marks of the foundational principle.
In the Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Arjuna speaks and describes the nature of the supreme Prakṛti. Rather than a battlefield exchange, the scene is contemplative: Arjuna articulates a metaphysical vision in which the cosmos is upheld by yogic power and grounded in Ṛta and Satya.