Shloka 29
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
इस प्रकार आत्मा प्रकृतिके द्वारा अपने ही स्वरूपके अनेक विभाग करता है। वह कभी स्वाहा, कभी स्वधा, कभी वषट्कार और कभी नमस्कारमें प्रवृत्त होता है ।।
iti prakāreṇa ātmā prakṛtyā svasyā eva svarūpasya anekān vibhāgān karoti | sa kadācid svāhāyāṃ kadācid svadhāyāṃ kadācid vaṣaṭkāre kadācid namaskāre ca pravartate || yājanādhyāpana-dānaṃ tathaivāhuḥ pratigraham | yajanādhyayane caiva yac cānyad api kiṃcana ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “Thus the Self, working through Prakṛti, divides its single nature into many functions. At times it moves in the formula ‘svāhā’, at times in ‘svadhā’, at times in the sacrificial cry ‘vaṣaṭ’, and at times in acts of reverent salutation. Likewise people speak of officiating at sacrifices, teaching, giving, and also accepting gifts; of sacrificing and studying—along with whatever other duties there may be. The point is that the one inner Self appears as many roles and ritual actions when expressed through nature and social-religious obligation.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the one Self appears to act in many different ways—ritual utterances, worship, teaching, giving, receiving—because it operates through Prakṛti and social-religious duties. Multiplicity belongs to functional expression, not to the essential unity of the Self.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing his listener in a reflective, dharma-oriented discourse: he lists ritual formulas and standard duties (sacrifice, study, teaching, charity, accepting gifts) to illustrate how a single inner principle seems divided into many roles within Vedic life.