Shloka 75
Atithi-prāpti and the Brāhmaṇa’s Deliberation on Triadic Dharma (अतिथिप्राप्तिः धर्मत्रयविचारश्च)
यतोऊहं प्रसृतः पूर्वमव्यक्तात् त्रिगुणो महान् | तस्मात् परतरो यो सौ क्षेत्रज्ञ इति कल्पित:
yato'haṃ prasṛtaḥ pūrvam avyaktāt triguṇo mahān | tasmāt parataro yo'sau kṣetrajña iti kalpitaḥ ||
From the unmanifest Prakṛti, the great principle—threefold through the guṇas—first unfolded as ‘I’ (ahaṃkāra). Yet beyond even that stands one whose status is higher than it: he is conceived as the universal conscious Knower of the Field (kṣetrajña).
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes levels of reality: from unmanifest Prakṛti arises the guṇa-based cosmic principle and the ‘I’-sense, but beyond these evolutes is the higher conscious principle—the universal kṣetrajña—identified as the true knower and basis of experience.
Vaiśampāyana continues a doctrinal exposition in Śānti Parva, presenting a Sāṅkhya-like account of cosmic emergence and then pointing beyond material principles to the supreme conscious knower (kṣetrajña) as the culminating reference point for understanding self and liberation.