Shloka 31
यत् तद् बुद्धेः परं प्राहु: सांख्या योगाश्व सर्वश: । बुद्धयमानं महाप्राज्ञमबुद्धपरिवर्जनात्,सांख्य और योगके सम्पूर्ण विद्वान् जिसको बुद्धिसे परे बताते हैं, जो परम ज्ञानसम्पन्न है, अहंकार आदि जड तत्त्वोंका परित्याग (बाध) कर देनेपर शेष रहे हुए चिन्मय तत्त्वके रूपमें जिसका बोध होता है, जो अज्ञात, अव्यक्त, सगुण ईश्वर, निर्गुण ईश्वर, नित्य और अधिष्ठाता कहा गया है, वह परमात्मा ही प्रकृति और उसके गुणों (चौबीस तत्त्वों) की अपेक्षा पचीसवा तत्त्व है, ऐसा सांख्य और योगमें कुशल तथा परमतत्त्वकी खोज करनेवाले विद्वान पुरुष समझते हैं
yat tad buddheḥ paraṃ prāhuḥ sāṅkhyā yogāś ca sarvaśaḥ | buddhyamānaṃ mahāprājñam abuddha-parivarjanāt ||
Vasiṣṭha said: That Reality which the Sāṅkhyas and the Yogins, in every way, declare to be beyond the intellect—supremely wise and knowable only when the non-conscious factors such as ego and the rest are set aside—this is the Supreme Self. It is spoken of as unknown, unmanifest, as the Lord with attributes and also as the attributeless Lord, as eternal and as the inner support. Thus, those skilled in Sāṅkhya and Yoga and intent on the highest truth understand the Supreme Self to be the twenty-fifth principle, beyond Prakṛti and its guṇas (the twenty-four principles).
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Supreme Self (Paramātmā/Puruṣa) is beyond the reach of ordinary intellect and is realized when insentient constituents like ego and other material principles are negated; in Sāṅkhya-Yoga terms, it is the twenty-fifth principle transcending Prakṛti’s twenty-four categories.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and liberation, Vasiṣṭha explains to his listener a Sāṅkhya-Yoga framework: how sages describe the ultimate Reality and how it stands apart from the material constituents, guiding the seeker toward discriminative insight and renunciation of the non-self.