Shloka 29
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
ज्ञान ज्ञेयं तथा ज्ञो$ज्ञ: कस्तपा अतपास्तथा | सूर्याति सूर्य इति च विद्याविद्ये तथैव च
jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ tathā jño ’jñaḥ kas tapā atapās tathā | sūryāti-sūrya iti ca vidyāvidye tathaiva ca ||
Yājñavalkya said: “(You ask:) What is knowledge, and what is the knowable? Who is the knower, and who is the ignorant? Who is truly austere, and who is not austere? Who is the ‘sun,’ and who is ‘beyond the sun’? And likewise, what are vidyā (true knowledge) and avidyā (ignorance)?”
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a systematic set of philosophical distinctions—knowledge/knowable, knower/ignorant, true austerity/false austerity, and vidyā/avidyā—implying that ethical and spiritual progress depends on correct discernment of these categories.
Yājñavalkya is responding in a didactic setting within Śānti Parva, restating a sequence of questions that guide the forthcoming explanation of metaphysical and ethical fundamentals.