Shloka 26
Sanatsujāta on Vedic Learning, Truth (Satya), and the Discipline of Dama–Tyāga–Apramāda
सनत्युजात उवाच आभाति शुक्लमिव लोहितमिवाथो कृष्णमायसमर्कवर्णम् । न पृथिव्यां तिष्ठति नान्तरिक्षे नैतत् समुद्रे सलिलं बिभर्ति,सनत्सुजातने कहा--यद्यपि श्वेत, लाल, काले, लोहेके सदृश अथवा सूर्यके समान प्रकाशमान अनेकों प्रकारके रूप प्रतीत होते हैं, तथापि ब्रह्मका वास्तविक रूप न पृथ्वीमें है, न आकाशमें। समुद्रका जल भी उस रूपको नहीं धारण करता
Sanatsujāta uvāca: ābhāti śuklam iva lohitam ivātho kṛṣṇam āyasam arkavarṇam | na pṛthivyāṃ tiṣṭhati nāntarikṣe naitat samudre salilaṃ bibharti ||
Sanatsujāta said: “It appears—now as white, now as red, now as black; sometimes like iron, sometimes radiant like the sun. Yet that Reality does not stand fixed on the earth, nor does it abide in the mid-air; even the ocean’s waters do not bear or contain it.”
सनत्युजात उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Supreme Reality may seem to take many colours and forms to perception, but it is not truly confined to any material locus (earth, sky, or ocean). One should not mistake shifting appearances for the ultimate; the Real transcends sensory categories and spatial limitation.
In the Sanatsujātīya section of Udyoga Parva, the sage Sanatsujāta instructs Dhṛtarāṣṭra on higher knowledge. Here he emphasizes the formless, uncontained nature of Brahman, correcting any tendency to locate the Absolute as a physical object within the world.