Shloka 15
Jarā-Mṛtyu-anatikrama: Janaka–Pañcaśikha-saṃvāda
Aging and Death Cannot Be Overstepped
यदा तु गुणजालं तदव्यक्तात्मनि संक्षिपेत् । तदा सह गुणैस्तैस्तु पजचविंशो विलीयते
yadā tu guṇajālaṃ tadavyaktātmani saṃkṣipet | tadā saha guṇais tais tu pañcaviṃśo vilīyate ||
Vasiṣṭha dijo: «Cuando un yogui, por el poder del yoga, retrae toda la trama de los guṇa y la funde de nuevo en el Sí mismo inmanifestado —la naturaleza primordial, no manifiesta—, entonces, junto con la disolución de esos guṇa, el vigésimo quinto principio, el Puruṣa, también se disuelve en el Sí mismo supremo. Desde este punto de vista, incluso ese Puruṣa puede llamarse “kṣara”, perecedero, en cuanto se describe como fundiéndose en la realidad más alta».
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation is described as a reversal of manifestation: the yogin withdraws the guṇas and their effects back into the unmanifest source (avyakta). With the guṇas dissolved, even the Sāṃkhya ‘twenty-fifth’ principle (Puruṣa) is spoken of as merging into the Supreme Self—highlighting a perspective in which all enumerated principles are transcended in the highest realization.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation, Vasiṣṭha explains a yogic process of dissolution (laya): the manifested qualities (guṇas) are reabsorbed into the unmanifest root, and with that reabsorption the individual conscious principle (Puruṣa, as counted among tattvas) is said to merge into the supreme reality.