Shloka 32
Jarā-Mṛtyu-anatikrama: Janaka–Pañcaśikha-saṃvāda
Aging and Death Cannot Be Overstepped
“जो मेरे साथ संयुक्त होकर मेरी समानता करने लगी है, ऐसी इस प्रकृतिके साथ मैं मूर्खतावश सहवास कैसे कर सकता हूँ? यह लो, अब मैं स्थिर हो रहा हूँ ।।
sahavāsaṃ na yāsyāmi kālam etad dhi vañcanāt | vañcito 'smy anayā yad dhi nirvikāro vikārayā ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “I will no longer enter into companionship with her; for all this time has been nothing but deception. Though I am by nature unchanging, I have been deluded by this changeful Prakṛti. Therefore I shall not remain with her any longer; behold, I now become steady.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse stresses discernment between the changeless Self (nirvikāra) and changeful Nature (vikāra/Prakṛti). Liberation-oriented ethics here is the resolve to withdraw identification and ‘companionship’ with Prakṛti’s modifications—seeing them as deceptive when mistaken for the Self.
Vasiṣṭha declares a turning point: recognizing that Prakṛti has long ‘deceived’ him through its transformations, he resolves to end association with it and become steady—i.e., to abide in the unmodified state rather than be carried by changing conditions.