Shloka 8

Utkramaṇa-sthāna and Ariṣṭa-lakṣaṇa: Yājñavalkya’s Instruction on Departure Pathways and Mortality Signs

Devanagari script

अन्योन्यगुणसंरोधादन्योन्यगुणसंश्रयात्‌ । एवमेवाभिसम्बद्धौ नित्यं प्रकृतिपूरुषी

Transliteration

anyonyaguṇasaṃrodhād anyonyaguṇasaṃśrayāt | evam evābhisambaddhau nityaṃ prakṛtipūruṣī ||

Translation

Dijo el rey Jánaka: «Porque las cualidades de cada uno refrenan y limitan las del otro, y porque cada uno se apoya en las cualidades del otro, así Prakṛti (la Naturaleza) y Puruṣa (el Sí mismo consciente) quedan eternamente ligados en mutua conexión».

Word by Word

अन्योन्यगुणसंरोधात्from the mutual obstruction of qualities

अन्योन्यगुणसंश्रयात्from the mutual dependence/support of qualities

एवम्thus

एवindeed/just

अभिसम्बद्धौclosely connected (the two)

नित्यम्always

प्रकृतिपूरुषीPrakriti and Purusha (the two)

Speaker

जनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

ज

जनक (Janaka)

प

प्रकृति (Prakṛti)

प

पुरुष (Puruṣa)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Prakṛti (the guṇa-made field of nature) and Puruṣa (consciousness) function in an inseparable linkage: each is understood in relation to the other, with mutual dependence and mutual constraint. This frames bondage as arising from their conjunction and points toward liberation through discerning their distinctness.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, King Janaka speaks as a teacher, explaining a Sāṅkhya-style account of how Nature and the Self remain perpetually conjoined in worldly experience due to reciprocal reliance of their qualities.