Shloka 37
अव्यक्त–पुरुष–विवेकः (Discrimination of Avyakta/Prakṛti and Puruṣa) — Yājñavalkya’s Anvīkṣikī to Viśvāvasu
अधिष्ठातेति राजेन्द्र प्रोच्यते यतिसत्तमै: । अधिष्ठानादधिष्ठाता क्षेत्राणामिति न: श्रुतम्,राजेन्द्र! इसीलिये यतिशिरोमणि उसे अधिष्ठाता कहते हैं। क्षेत्रोंका अधिष्ठान होनेके कारण वह अधिष्ठाता है, ऐसा हमने सुन रखा है
adhiṣṭhāteti rājendra procyate yatisattamaiḥ | adhiṣṭhānād adhiṣṭātā kṣetrāṇām iti naḥ śrutam ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “O king, the foremost of ascetics call him ‘Adhiṣṭhātā’ (the Presiding Lord). We have heard, O ruler of men, that because he is the very support and seat (adhiṣṭhāna) of all the ‘fields’ (kṣetras), he is therefore known as the Presider over the fields.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse explains an ethical-metaphysical idea: the ‘Adhiṣṭhātā’ is so called because he is the underlying support and governing presence of all kṣetras (fields of embodied experience). This frames responsibility and discernment: actions occur in the field, but there is a higher presiding principle that witnesses, orders, and sustains.
Vasiṣṭha addresses a king and clarifies a technical designation used by eminent ascetics. He justifies the title ‘Adhiṣṭhātā’ by etymological reasoning—since the presider is the adhiṣṭhāna (substratum) of the kṣetras, tradition calls him the presiding lord of the fields.