Shloka 78
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
जब द्विज इस बातको समझ लेता है कि मैं अन्य हूँ और यह प्राकृत शरीर अथवा अनात्म-जगत् मुझसे सर्वथा भिन्न है, तब वह प्रकृतिके संसर्गसे रहित हो छब्बीसवें तत्त्व परमात्माका साक्षात्कार कर लेता है ।।
anyaśṣu rājann avaras tathānyaḥ pañcaviṁśakaḥ | tatsthānāc cānupaśyanti eka eveti sādhavaḥ ||
Yājñavalkya said: O King, among the many principles there is one that is lower, and there is another—counted as the twenty-fifth—that is distinct. From the standpoint of that higher principle, the wise perceive that the Self is one alone. When a twice-born truly understands, “I am other than this,” and recognizes that this natural body and the non-self world are entirely separate from him, he becomes free from contact with Prakṛti and directly realizes the supreme Self as the higher principle beyond the constituents of nature.
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Discriminative knowledge: the seeker must discern the Self (Puruṣa/Ātman, the ‘twenty-fifth principle’) as wholly distinct from body and the non-self world. With this viveka, one becomes disentangled from Prakṛti and attains direct realization of the supreme Self, understood as one and the same in all.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation, the sage Yājñavalkya addresses a king and explains a Sāṅkhya-like hierarchy of principles: a lower set associated with nature and a higher, distinct principle (the 25th). He states that the wise, standing in that higher standpoint, perceive the oneness of the Self and thereby move toward liberation.