Shloka 17
जनक–सुलभा संवादः
Janaka–Sulabhā Dialogue on Mokṣa and Non-attachment
षड्विंशेन प्रबुद्धेन बुध्यमानो>प्यबुद्धिमान् । एतन्नानात्वमित्युक्त सांख्यश्रुतिनिदर्शनात्,जीव छब्बीसवें तत्त्व ज्ञानस्वरूप परमात्माके प्रकाशसे ही जडवर्गको जानता है; परंतु उसे जानकर भी परमात्माको न जाननेके कारण वह अज्ञानी ही रह जाता है। यह अज्ञान ही जीवके नानात्वरूप बन्धनका कारण बताया जाता है। जैसा कि सांख्यशास्त्र और श्रुतियोंद्वारा दिग्दर्शन कराया गया है
ṣaḍviṁśena prabuddhena budhyamāno 'py abuddhimān | etan nānātvam ity uktaṁ sāṅkhyaśruti-nidarśanāt ||
Vasiṣṭha said: Even though the individual self is awakened by the twenty-sixth principle and thereby comes to know the inert aggregate, it still remains unwise—because, despite knowing the field of matter, it does not know the Supreme Self. This very ignorance is declared to be the cause of the soul’s bondage in the form of multiplicity, as is indicated by Sāṅkhya teaching and by the testimony of the Upaniṣadic tradition.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Knowing the inert or material aggregate is not the same as knowing the Supreme Self. Without realization of the Supreme, the jīva remains in ignorance, and that ignorance generates bondage experienced as multiplicity (nānātva).
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation, Vasiṣṭha explains a philosophical point: the soul may gain a kind of awakening that enables it to cognize the material domain, yet it remains truly unwise if it fails to recognize the Supreme Reality. He supports this by appealing to Sāṅkhya categories and to śruti authority.