Shloka 26
Adhyāya 314 — हिमवदाश्रमः, शक्तिक्षेपकथा, तथा स्वाध्यायविधिः
Himalayan Hermitage, the Myth of the Thrown Spear, and Rules of Vedic Study
कोटिशकक्ष करोत्येष प्रत्यगात्मानमात्मना । यह ऐश्वर्यशालिनी प्रकृति अपने ही प्रभावसे जीवको सैकड़ों, हजारों, लाखों और करोड़ों रूपोंमें प्रकट कर देती है
koṭiśaḥ karoty eṣa pratyagātmānam ātmanā |
Yājñavalkya said: “This sovereign Power (Prakṛti), by its own inherent efficacy, fashions the one indwelling Self into countless manifestations—hundreds, thousands, lakhs, and even crores—so that the single living principle appears as many.”
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that multiplicity in living beings is a manifestation produced by an operative power (understood as Prakṛti), while the inner Self is fundamentally one; the many-ness is an appearance or expression rather than a change in the essential Self.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, the sage Yājñavalkya explains to his interlocutor how the single indwelling Self comes to be presented as innumerable individual forms, framing a metaphysical basis for detachment and discernment.