Shloka 37
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
विश्वाविश्वेति यदिदं गन्धर्विेन्द्रानुपृच्छसि । विश्वाव्यक्तं परं विद्याद् भूतभव्यभयंकरम्
viśvāviśveti yad idaṃ gandharvīndrānupṛcchasi | viśvāvyaktaṃ paraṃ vidyād bhūtabhavyabhayaṅkaram ||
Yājñavalkya said: “As to what you ask—‘the universal and the non-universal’—know that the supreme reality is the Unmanifest (Avyakta) that pervades all. It is the highest principle, awe-inspiring to beings of the past and the future, for it stands beyond ordinary perception and becomes the ground of all that is and will be.”
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies the highest reality as the all-pervading Unmanifest (avyakta), beyond the categories of ‘universal’ and ‘non-universal’ as ordinarily conceived, and portrays it as a transcendent principle that inspires awe across time (past and future).
In a philosophical exchange in Śānti Parva, Yājñavalkya responds to a question posed to him (addressed as ‘lord of the Gandharvas’) about the notions of viśva and aviśva, redirecting the inquiry toward the supreme, unmanifest ground of existence.