Shloka 35
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
प्रकृत्या सर्वमेवेदं जगदन्धीकृतं विभो । रजसा तमसा चैव व्याप्तं सर्वमनेकधा
prakṛtyā sarvam evedaṃ jagad andhīkṛtaṃ vibho | rajasā tamasā caiva vyāptaṃ sarvam anekadhā ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “O mighty one, by Nature (prakṛti) this entire world has been rendered as though blind. Through association with her, all things become pervaded in many ways by the qualities of rajas and tamas.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that worldly perception and conduct are obscured by prakṛti and especially by rajas and tamas. Ethical clarity and right judgment are difficult when the mind is dominated by passion/restlessness (rajas) and darkness/inertia (tamas); one must cultivate discernment to see beyond this obscuration.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Vasiṣṭha is explaining to his interlocutor that the universe and embodied experience are conditioned by prakṛti and the guṇas. He frames human confusion and moral error as arising from the pervasive influence of rajas and tamas.