Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 43, Shloka 78
Adhyaya 43 — Portents of Death (Ariṣṭa-lakṣaṇas) and the Yogin’s Response; Alarka Renounces Kingship
चिच्छक्तिरेक एवायं यदा नान्योऽस्ति कश्चन ।
तदा का नृपते ज्ञानान्मित्रारिप्रभुभृत्यता ॥
cicchaktir eka evāyaṃ yadā nānyo 'sti kaścana |
tadā kā nṛpate jñānān mitrāri-prabhu-bhṛtyatā ||
O king, when this single Power of Consciousness alone exists and nothing else whatsoever, then once knowledge has arisen, what place remains for the notions of “friend” and “enemy,” or of “master” and “servant”?
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FAQs
Realization of the one Consciousness dissolves social and psychological binaries (friend/enemy, ruler/ruled). Ethically, it urges the king to act without egoic hostility and to see conflict as arising from misapprehension.
Primarily Dharma/Upadeśa within Itihāsa-style narrative; it is not sarga/pratisarga/manvantara/vaṃśa/vaṃśānucarita proper, but an instructive passage embedded in royal genealogy-like storytelling (vaṃśānucarita-adjacent).
‘Cit-śakti’ as the sole reality implies that all relational identities are superimpositions (adhyāropa). The verse points to inner sovereignty: conquering the sense of ‘other’ is the true conquest.