Shloka 18

Devanagari script

अव्यक्ताय सुसूक्ष्माय निर्गुणाय गुणात्मने । स एष पुरुषव्याघत्र पीतवासा जनार्दन:

Transliteration

avyaktāya susūkṣmāya nirguṇāya guṇātmane | sa eṣa puruṣavyāghra pītavāsā janārdanaḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “To the Unmanifest, the exceedingly subtle, the attributeless yet the very ground of all attributes—this is that Janārdana, clad in yellow garments, O tiger among men.”

Word by Word

अव्यक्तायto the unmanifest

सुसूक्ष्मायto the very subtle

निर्गुणायto the attributeless

गुणात्मनेto the one whose essence is (the) guṇas

सःhe

एषःthis (one)

पुरुषव्याघ्रO tiger among men

पीतवासाthe yellow-robed one

जनार्दनःJanārdana (Krishna/Vishnu)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa/Viṣṇu)

pītavāsa (yellow garment)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse identifies Janārdana as transcendent (unmanifest, subtle, beyond limiting qualities) while also immanent as the basis of all qualities (guṇātman). It frames devotion and recognition of the divine as compatible with philosophical insight into nirguṇa and saguṇa aspects.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, describes Janārdana with exalted metaphysical epithets and a recognizable iconographic marker (yellow garments), presenting him to the listener as the supreme figure worthy of reverence.