Shloka 12
Adhyāya 314 — हिमवदाश्रमः, शक्तिक्षेपकथा, तथा स्वाध्यायविधिः
Himalayan Hermitage, the Myth of the Thrown Spear, and Rules of Vedic Study
अचेतना चैव मता प्रकृतिश्वापि पार्थिव | एतेनाधिछिता चैव सृजते संहरत्यपि,पृथ्वीनाथ! प्रकृति अचेतन मानी गयी है। इस परमतत्त्वद्वारा अधिष्ठित होकर ही वह सृष्टि एवं संहार करती है
acetanā caiva matā prakṛtiś cāpi pārthiva | etena adhiṣṭhitā caiva sṛjate saṃharaty api, pṛthvīnātha |
Yājñavalkya said: “O king, Prakṛti (material nature) is indeed regarded as insentient. Yet, when presided over and empowered by this Supreme Principle, she brings forth creation and also withdraws it again in dissolution. Thus, the world-process is not random: inert nature functions only under the governance of the highest reality.”
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Prakṛti is inert and cannot act independently; creation and dissolution occur only when Prakṛti is superintended by the Supreme Principle (the highest reality). This frames cosmic activity as governed, not accidental, and supports ethical detachment by locating agency beyond mere material processes.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, the sage Yājñavalkya addresses a king and explains the relation between Prakṛti (nature) and the supreme presiding reality: nature is non-conscious, yet under that higher governance it produces the universe and later withdraws it.