Shloka 29
Atithi-prāpti and the Brāhmaṇa’s Deliberation on Triadic Dharma (अतिथिप्राप्तिः धर्मत्रयविचारश्च)
महापुरुषसंज्ञां स लभते स्वेन कर्मणा । तस्मात् प्रसूतमव्यक्तं प्रधानं तं॑ विदुर्बुधा:
mahāpuruṣasaṃjñāṃ sa labhate svena karmaṇā | tasmāt prasūtam avyaktam pradhānaṃ taṃ vidur budhāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: By the force of his own action he attains the designation “Mahāpuruṣa.” From him is born the Unmanifest; the wise know that very Unmanifest also by the name Pradhāna (the primordial principle).
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links cosmological categories to moral causality: the status/designation “Mahāpuruṣa” is said to be attained through one’s own karma, and from that principle arises the Avyakta, which the wise also call Pradhāna—aligning epic teaching with Sāṃkhya-Yoga terminology.
Vaiśampāyana continues an explanatory discourse in Śānti Parva, shifting from narration to doctrinal exposition: he identifies a supreme principle termed Mahāpuruṣa and describes the emergence of the Unmanifest (Avyakta/Pradhāna) from it as part of a creation framework.