Shloka 7
Jarā-Mṛtyu-anatikrama: Janaka–Pañcaśikha-saṃvāda
Aging and Death Cannot Be Overstepped
विद्या प्रकृतिरव्यक्तं तत्त्वानां परमेश्वरी | विद्या ज्ञेया नरश्रेष्ठ विधिश्व॒ परम: स्मृत:
vidyā prakṛtir avyaktam tattvānāṁ parameśvarī | vidyā jñeyā naraśreṣṭha vidhiś ca paramaḥ smṛtaḥ ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “Knowledge is the Unmanifest Prakṛti, the supreme sovereign power underlying all principles (tattvas). O best of men, this knowledge is to be known; it is remembered as the highest method (vidhi)—the foremost discipline for true understanding.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies true knowledge (vidyā) with the unmanifest Prakṛti—the supreme governing basis of all tattvas—and states that realizing this is the highest discipline or method for liberation-oriented understanding.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Vasiṣṭha addresses a listener as “best of men” and delivers a concise metaphysical teaching, elevating knowledge of the unmanifest ground of reality as the foremost path.