Shloka 57
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
मूढ़बुद्धि मानव उस आत्माके सम्बन्धमें द्वैतभावसे युक्त धारणा रखते हुए कहते हैं --'सनातन अव्यक्त परमात्मा दूसरा है और पचीसवाँ तत्त्वरूप जीवात्मा दूसरा, परंतु साधु पुरुष उन दोनोंको एक मानते हैं ।।
yājñavalkya uvāca |
muḍhabuddhayaḥ mānavā ātmanaḥ sambandhe dvaitabhāvena yuktāṃ dhāraṇāṃ kṛtvā vadanti— “sanātanaḥ avyaktaḥ paramātmā anyaḥ, pañcaviṃśaḥ tattvarūpaḥ jīvātmā anyaḥ” iti; kintu sādhavaḥ puruṣāḥ tayor aikyaṃ manyante ||
te na etat abhinandanti pañcaviṃśakam acyutam |
janma-mṛtyu-bhayāt yogāḥ sāṅkhyāś ca paramaiṣiṇaḥ ||
janma-mṛtyu-bhayarahitāḥ paramapada-prāptim icchantaḥ sāṅkhyavidāḥ yoginaś ca jīvātma-paramātmanor bhedaṃ na manyante; jīveśvarābheda-vādinaṃ pūrvoktaṃ darśanaṃ vā sādhumatam api te’bhinandanti eva ||
Yājñavalkya said: People of dull understanding, holding a dualistic notion about the Self, say, “The eternal, unmanifest Supreme Self is one thing, and the twenty-fifth principle—the individual self—is another.” But the wise and saintly regard the two as one. Those seekers of the highest goal—Sāṅkhya-knowers and yogins—free from the fear of birth and death, do not approve of treating the ‘twenty-fifth’ (the individual self) as separate from the Imperishable. They do not accept a hard division between jīva and the Supreme; rather, they affirm the teaching that proclaims their non-difference, as set forth earlier as the view of the good.
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse critiques a rigid dualism that separates the unmanifest Supreme Self from the individual self. It presents the ‘sādhu’ view: advanced Sāṅkhya-knowers and yogins, seeking the highest state and free from fear of birth and death, affirm non-difference (abheda) between jīva and the Imperishable.
In a didactic setting within Śānti Parva, the sage Yājñavalkya instructs by contrasting two viewpoints: the dull-minded who posit two separate realities (Paramātman vs. jīvātman), and the spiritually mature seekers who regard them as one, endorsing the earlier-stated doctrine of non-duality.