Shloka 34
अव्यक्त–पुरुष–विवेकः (Discrimination of Avyakta/Prakṛti and Puruṣa) — Yājñavalkya’s Anvīkṣikī to Viśvāvasu
एवमेव च राजेन्द्र विज्ञेयं ज्ञानकोविदै: । अधिष्ठातारमव्यक्तमस्याप्येतन्निदर्शनम्,नृपश्रेष्ठ) इतना ही प्रकृतिके सर्ग और प्रलयका विषय है। प्रलयकालमें इसका एकत्व है और जब रचना होती है, तब इसके बहुत भेद हो जाते हैं। राजेन्द्र! ज्ञाननिपुण पुरुषोंको इसी प्रकार प्रकृतिका एकत्व और नानात्व जानना चाहिये। अव्यक्त प्रकृति ही अधिष्ठाता पुरुषको सृष्टिकालमें नानात्वकी ओर ले जाती है। यही पुरुषके एकत्वका निदर्शन है
evam eva ca rājendra vijñeyaṁ jñāna-kovidaiḥ | adhiṣṭhātāram avyaktam asyāpy etan nidarśanam ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “So too, O best of kings, this is to be understood by those skilled in true knowledge: the unmanifest (Prakṛti) is the governing basis—this very point serves as an illustration even here. In dissolution it is apprehended as one; when creation proceeds, it appears as many. Thus should the wise discern both the unity and the multiplicity of Prakṛti; and it is the unmanifest that, at the time of creation, leads the presiding Person toward the experience of plurality—thereby indicating the Person’s underlying oneness.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that Prakṛti is one in dissolution but appears as many in creation; the wise should understand both aspects. The unmanifest (avyakta) functions as the basis that occasions the presiding Person’s experience of plurality, while the Person’s essential oneness remains implied.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing a king in philosophical discernment within Śānti Parva’s teachings, using the creation–dissolution framework to explain how unmanifest Prakṛti relates to the presiding principle (adhiṣṭhātṛ) and why multiplicity is an appearance arising at creation.