Shloka 32
चतुर्लक्षणजं त्वाद्य॑ चतुर्वर्ग प्रचक्षते । व्यक्तमव्यक्तजं चैव तथा बुद्धमथेतरत् । सच्चं क्षेत्रज्ञ इत्येतद् द्वयमप्यनुदर्शितम्
caturlakṣaṇajaṁ tvādya caturvarga pracakṣate | vyaktam avyaktajaṁ caiva tathā buddham athetarat || saccaṁ kṣetrajña ity etad dvayam apy anudarśitam |
Vyāsa said: “The primordial Self, though unmanifest, is described as bearing four marks—birth, growth, aging, and death—through its association with the manifest, and as being connected with the four human aims: dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa. The manifest arises from the unmanifest; and the unmanifest is of the nature of consciousness and knowledge. Thus a twofold teaching is presented: the ‘existent’ (sat), identified with the field (kṣetra, the insentient aggregate), and the knower of the field (kṣetrajña, the conscious self). In this way these two principles are set forth for discernment, grounding the ethical aim of liberation in detachment from sense-objects.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
A twofold metaphysical discernment is taught: the manifest (vyakta, the field/insentient aggregate) arises from the unmanifest (avyakta), while the conscious principle is the knower of the field (kṣetrajña). Liberation is ethically framed as detachment—when the self withdraws from attachment to sense-objects, it is called free.
In the Śānti Parva’s instructional discourse, Vyāsa explains a Sāṅkhya-style analysis of reality—manifest and unmanifest, field and knower—linking it to the human goals (puruṣārthas) and to the practical path of renunciation leading to mokṣa.