Shloka 42
अव्यक्त–पुरुष–विवेकः (Discrimination of Avyakta/Prakṛti and Puruṣa) — Yājñavalkya’s Anvīkṣikī to Viśvāvasu
अव्यक्तको क्षेत्र कहा गया है। उसीको सत्त्व (बुद्धि) और शासककी भी संज्ञा दी गयी है; परंतु पचीसवाँ तत्त्व परमपुरुष परमात्मा जड तत्त्व और ईश्वरसे रहित भिन्न है ।। सांख्यदर्शनमेतावत् परिसंख्यानुदर्शनम् । सांख्या: प्रकुर्वते चैव प्रकृतिं च प्रचक्षते
avyaktakaḥ kṣetraḥ kathitaḥ; sa eva sattva-buddhi-śāsaka-saṃjñitaḥ. pañcaviṃśas tu tattvaḥ paramapuruṣaḥ paramātmā jaḍa-tattvāt īśvararahitāt pṛthag bhinnaḥ. sāṅkhyadarśanam etāvat pari-saṅkhyānudārśanam; sāṅkhyāḥ prakurvante caiva prakṛtiṃ ca pracakṣate.
Vasiṣṭha dijo: «Lo Inmanifestado (avyakta) es declarado como el “campo” (kṣetra). Ese mismo principio es llamado también sattva —esto es, el intelecto discerniente (buddhi)— y asimismo el regidor interior. Pero el vigésimo quinto principio, el Ser Supremo (Paramapuruṣa), el Sí mismo supremo (Paramātman), permanece distinto: diferente de la materia inerte y no reducible a un principio material sin Señor. Esto es, en suma, la visión del Sāṅkhya: un análisis por enumeración; los sāṅkhyas exponen las categorías y señalan a Prakṛti como la fuente fundamental.»
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a Sāṅkhya-style analysis: the unmanifest (avyakta) is treated as the ‘field’ of experience and is associated with intellect and inner governance, but the twenty-fifth principle—the Supreme Self/Puruṣa—is distinct from inert matter and should not be collapsed into a purely material, Īśvara-less account. Liberation-oriented discernment depends on separating the Self from Prakṛti.
In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, Vasiṣṭha instructs by summarizing Sāṅkhya categories and clarifying the distinction between Prakṛti (the source of material principles) and the transcendent Self (Paramātmā/Paramapuruṣa), emphasizing correct metaphysical discrimination as part of spiritual instruction.