Shloka 6
जनक–सुलभा संवादः
Janaka–Sulabhā Dialogue on Mokṣa and Non-attachment
अव्यक्तबोधनाच्चापि बुध्यमानं वदन्त्युत । पज्चविंशं महात्मानं न चासावपि बुध्यते,पचीसवाँ तत्त्वरूप महान् आत्मा अव्यक्त प्रकृतिको जानता है, इसलिये उसे 'बुध्यमान' कहते हैं; परंतु वह भी छब्बीसवें तत्त्वरूप निर्मल नित्य शुद्ध बुद्ध अप्रमेय सनातन परमात्माको नहीं जानता है; किंतु वह सनातन परमात्मा उस पचीसतवें तत्त्वरूप जीवात्माको तथा चौबीसवीं प्रकृतिको भी भलीभाँति जानता है
avyaktabodhanāc cāpi budhyamānaṃ vadanty uta | pañcaviṃśaṃ mahātmānaṃ na cāsāv api budhyate ||
Vasiṣṭha said: Because it apprehends the Unmanifest (prakṛti), they call the great twenty-fifth principle—the individual self—“the one who is being awakened/knowing.” Yet even that self does not truly know the twenty-sixth principle, the stainless, eternal, ever-pure, intelligent, immeasurable, primeval Supreme Self. But that eternal Supreme Self fully knows both the twenty-fifth principle (the individual self) and the twenty-fourth (prakṛti).
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes levels of knowing: the individual self (the 25th principle) can cognize the Unmanifest nature (prakṛti) and is therefore termed ‘knowing/awakening,’ yet it does not, by its own limited standpoint, fully know the Supreme Self (the 26th principle). The Supreme Self, however, comprehends both the individual self and prakṛti—implying a hierarchy where ultimate knowledge belongs to the transcendent Paramātman.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Vasiṣṭha is explaining a tattva-based framework (Sāṃkhya-like enumeration) to clarify the relation between prakṛti (the unmanifest source of phenomena), the jīva/puruṣa (individual self), and the Paramātman (supreme reality). The point is to guide the listener from partial metaphysical insight toward recognition of the highest principle.