Shloka 44

Devanagari script

पज्चविंशो<प्रकृत्यात्मा बुध्यमान इति स्मृत:ः । यदा तु बुध्यते55त्मानं तदा भवति केवल:,वह पचीसवाँ प्रकृतिरूप नहीं है। उससे सर्वथा भिन्न ज्ञानस्वरूप माना गया है। जब वह अपने-आपको प्रकृतिसे भिन्न नित्यचिन्मय जान लेता है, उस समय केवल हो जाता है अर्थात्‌ अपने विशुद्ध परब्रह्मरूपमें स्थित हो जाता है

Transliteration

pañcaviṁśo ’prakṛtyātmā budhyamāna iti smṛtaḥ | yadā tu budhyate ’tmānaṁ tadā bhavati kevalaḥ ||

Translation

Vasiṣṭha said: “The twenty-fifth principle—the Self—is remembered as the ‘knower’ and is not of the nature of Prakṛti. But when it truly awakens to itself, recognizing its complete difference from Prakṛti, then it becomes ‘kevala’—standing alone in its own pure reality, established in the stainless state of the supreme Brahman.”

Word by Word

पञ्चविंशःthe twenty-fifth (principle/entity)

अप्रकृत्यात्माwhose nature is not Prakṛti; non-material in essence

बुध्यमानःbeing conscious/knowing; the knower

इतिthus

स्मृतःis said/remembered (as)

यदाwhen

तुbut/indeed

बुध्यतेunderstands/awakens to

आत्मानम्the Self

तदाthen

भवतिbecomes/is

केवलःalone; pure; isolated (from Prakṛti)

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

व

वसिष्ठ (Vasiṣṭha)

आ

आत्मन् (Ātman/Self)

प

प्रकृति (Prakṛti)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The Ātman (Puruṣa), counted as the 25th principle, is not a product of Prakṛti. Liberation (kevalatva/kaivalya) arises when one directly realizes the Self as distinct from Prakṛti and abides in its own pure consciousness.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Vasiṣṭha instructs on metaphysical discrimination: he defines the Self as the knowing principle beyond material nature and states that true realization culminates in ‘kevala’—the Self’s independent, purified establishment in Brahman.