Shloka 79
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
राजन! परमात्मा भिन्न है और जीवात्मा भिन्न; क्योंकि परमात्मा जीवात्माका आश्रय है; परंतु ज्ञानी संत-महात्मा उन दोनोंको एक ही देखते और समझते हैं ।।
rājan! paramātmā bhinnaḥ ca jīvātmā bhinnaḥ; yasmāt paramātmā jīvātmano 'śrayaḥ; kintu jñāninaḥ santa-mahātmānaḥ tau ubhau ekam iva paśyanti ca manyante. te na etat nābhinandanti pañcaviṃśakam acyutam | janma-mṛtyu-bhayād bhītā yogāḥ sāṅkhyāś ca kāśyapa | ṣaḍviṃśam anupaśyantaḥ śucayas tat-parāyaṇāḥ ||
Yājñavalkya said: “O King, the Supreme Self (Paramātman) is distinct, and the individual self (jīvātman) is distinct, for the Supreme is the support of the individual. Yet the wise—saints and great-souled seers—behold and understand them as one. Therefore, O descendant of Kaśyapa, yogins and Sāṅkhyas, frightened by the peril of birth and death, do not rest content with the twenty-fifth principle alone. Pure in heart and wholly devoted to the Supreme, they contemplate the twenty-sixth principle—the Supreme Self—and, through this vision of non-difference, continually rejoice in it.”
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that although the Supreme Self (paramātmā) and the individual self (jīvātmā) can be spoken of as distinct—because the Supreme is the support and ground of the individual—the realized sages perceive a deeper unity. Hence serious seekers do not stop at a limited metaphysical account (the ‘twenty-fifth principle’) but contemplate the higher ‘twenty-sixth’ reality, the Supreme, and rejoice in the vision of non-difference that frees one from fear of birth and death.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation, Yājñavalkya addresses the king and explains how advanced practitioners of Yoga and Sāṅkhya, motivated by dread of saṃsāra (repeated birth and death), pursue direct contemplation of the Supreme principle. The passage frames philosophical enumeration (tattvas) as a practical spiritual ladder culminating in devotion and purified insight.