Shloka 41
अव्यक्तं क्षेत्रमित्युक्ते तथा सत्त्वं तथेश्वर: । अनीश्वरमतत्त्वं च तत्त्व तत् पजचविंशकम्
avyaktaṃ kṣetram ity ukte tathā sattvaṃ tatheśvaraḥ | anīśvaram atattvaṃ ca tattva tat pañcaviṃśakam ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “When the unmanifest (avyakta) is spoken of as the ‘field’ (kṣetra), then along with it are also spoken of sattva and the Lord. Yet that which is without a Lord is non-reality; the reality is that twenty-fifth principle.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes the unmanifest ‘field’ (kṣetra) and associated categories from the ultimate governing reality: without acknowledging a Lord/overseeing Self, the account remains ‘non-reality’ (atattva); true reality is the twenty-fifth principle, the transcendent ruler beyond the twenty-four principles of prakṛti.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing on philosophical discrimination in the Śānti Parva: he frames the ‘field’ as the unmanifest basis of nature and then asserts that a complete and true account must include the supreme governing principle (the twenty-fifth tattva), guiding the listener toward right understanding for liberation-oriented dharma.