Shloka 54
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
अक्षर: क्षरमात्मानमबुद्धिस्त्वभिमन्यते
akṣaraḥ kṣaram ātmānam abuddhis tv abhimanyate |
Vasiṣṭha said: The imperishable Self (akṣara) is, through undiscriminating understanding, mistaken for the perishable (kṣara). Though one performs no austerity, one imagines oneself an ascetic; though one goes nowhere, one imagines oneself a mover and traveler. Though free from worldly entanglement, one takes oneself to be worldly; though truly fearless, one imagines fear. Thus, though one is akṣara, one thinks oneself destructible, and though beyond the reach of intellect, one still prides oneself on being intelligent—this is the ethical error born of delusion about the Self.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Misidentification is the root ethical and spiritual error: the imperishable Self is wrongly taken as perishable, leading to false self-images (ascetic, traveler, worldly, fearful) and pride in intellect even when the Self transcends intellect.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and liberation, Vasiṣṭha explains how delusion (abuddhi) makes one superimpose changing attributes onto the Self, producing contradictory self-conceptions and bondage in saṃsāra.