Shloka 25
जनक–सुलभा संवादः
Janaka–Sulabhā Dialogue on Mokṣa and Non-attachment
इसी प्रकार प्रकृति और पुरुषकी एकता और अनेकताको समझना चाहिये। अव्यक्त प्रकृतिका पुरुषसे जो नित्य भेद है, उसके यथार्थज्ञानसे पुरुष उसके बन्धनसे मुक्त हो जाता है। इसीको मोक्ष कहा गया है ।। पज्चविंशतिकस्यास्य यो<यं देहेषु वर्तते । एष मोक्षयितव्येति प्राहुरव्यक्तगोचरात्,इस शरीरमें जो पचीसवाँ तत्त्व अन्तर्यामी पुरुष विद्यमान है, उसे अव्यक्तके कार्यभूत महत्तत्त्वादिके बन्धनसे मुक्त करना आवश्यक है, ऐसा विद्वान् पुरुष कहते हैं
prajñāpayanti—prakṛti-puruṣayoḥ aikyaṃ nānātvam caiva yathāvat boddhavyam | avyaktāyāḥ prakṛteḥ puruṣeṇa saha yo nitya-bhedaḥ, tasya tattva-jñānāt puruṣaḥ tasyā bandhanāt pramucyate; etad eva mokṣa iti || pañcaviṃśatikasyāsya yo ’yaṃ deheṣu vartate | eṣa mokṣayitavya iti prāhur avyaktagocarāt ||
Vasiṣṭha said: One should rightly understand both the unity and the plurality of Prakṛti and Puruṣa. When the true knowledge arises that the unmanifest Prakṛti is eternally distinct from Puruṣa, the Puruṣa is released from her bondage—this is what is called liberation. The wise declare that the indwelling Puruṣa, the twenty-fifth principle present within bodies, must be freed from the binding effects of the unmanifest—namely the evolutes such as Mahat and the rest.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation comes from discriminative knowledge: recognizing the eternal distinction between the conscious Puruṣa (the 25th tattva, indwelling witness) and the unmanifest Prakṛti along with her evolutes (such as Mahat). When this distinction is known, the Puruṣa is no longer bound by Prakṛti’s workings.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Vasiṣṭha is explaining a Sāṃkhya-style analysis of reality: how the self (Puruṣa) becomes entangled with Prakṛti’s evolutes and how, through right understanding of their relation (apparent unity yet real difference), one attains mokṣa.