Shloka 28
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
अज्ञानवश वह अपनेमें सत्त्व, रज, तम-इन त्रिविध गुणों और धर्म, अर्थ एवं कामका अभिमान कर लेता है ।। प्रकृत्या55त्मानमेवात्मा एवं प्रविभजत्युत । स्वधाकारवषट्कारौ स्वाहाकारनमस्क्रिया:
ajñānavaśaḥ sa ātmany eva sattva-rajas-tamaḥ—iti trividha-guṇānāṃ ca dharma-artha-kāmānāṃ cābhimānaṃ karoti || prakṛtyā ātmānam evātmā evaṃ pravibhajaty uta | svadhākāra-vaṣaṭkārau svāhākāra-namaskriyāḥ ||
Vasiṣṭha dijo: “Impulsado por la ignorancia, el hombre superpone al Sí mismo las tres guṇas—sattva, rajas y tamas—y también se apropia de dharma, riqueza (artha) y placer (kāma) como ‘míos’. Así, por la fuerza de la prakṛti, el yo se divide y se rotula de muchas maneras: se identifica con fórmulas rituales como svadhā y vaṣaṭ, y con actos como la exclamación svāhā y las salutaciones, confundiendo esos papeles y acciones condicionados con el verdadero Sí mismo.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that ignorance makes one falsely identify the Self with nature’s guṇas and with life-goals (dharma, artha, kāma), and even with ritual roles and formulae. This egoic ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is a superimposition; liberation requires discerning the Self as distinct from prakṛti and its conditioned activities.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing about the inner cause of bondage: the mind, under prakṛti and ajñāna, fragments identity into many labels—ethical, economic, sensual, and ritual—thereby obscuring the true Self. The passage functions as a philosophical admonition within Śānti Parva’s teachings on peace and liberation.