Shloka 48
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
स लिड्जान्तरमासाद्य प्राकृतं लिड्रमव्रण: । व्रणद्वाराण्यधिष्ठाय कर्मण्यात्मनि मन्यते,पुरुष स्वयं छिद्ररहित होते हुए भी प्रकृतिनिर्मित चिह्स्वरूप विभिन्न शरीरोंका अवलम्बन करके हिद्रोंमें स्थित रहनेवाली इन्द्रियोंका अधिष्ठाता बनकर उन सबके कर्मोंको अपनेमें मान लेता है
sa liṅgāntaram āsādya prākṛtaṁ liṅgam avraṇaḥ | vraṇadvārāṇy adhiṣṭhāya karmaṇy ātmani manyate ||
Vasiṣṭha dijo: «Aunque el Puruṣa (el Sí mismo) está libre de fisura o defecto, alcanza otra “marca”: una forma encarnada, natural, hecha por Prakṛti. Al presidir los sentidos que habitan en las aberturas del cuerpo, llega a considerar como propias las acciones de esos sentidos. Así, por identificarse con los instrumentos de la naturaleza, el Sí mismo inmaculado parece ser agente y experimentador.»
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the pure Self (Puruṣa) is intrinsically untouched and non-agent, yet by assuming an embodied identity produced by Prakṛti and presiding over the sense-gates, it mistakenly appropriates the senses’ actions as ‘mine.’ Liberation requires seeing actions as belonging to Prakṛti’s instruments, not to the Self.
In Vasiṣṭha’s instruction within Śānti Parva’s mokṣa-oriented discourse, he explains how bondage arises: the Self associates with a Prakṛti-made body and, through identification with the senses operating via bodily openings, comes to believe it is the doer of their activities.