Shloka 9
Yājñavalkya on the Unity of Sāṃkhya and Yoga and the Marks of Meditative Composure
पजञ्चविंशो महानात्मा तस्यैवाप्रतिबोधनात् | विमलस्य विशुद्धस्य शुद्धाशुद्धनिषेवणात्
pañcaviṁśo mahānātmā tasyaivāpratibodhanāt | vimalasya viśuddhasya śuddhāśuddhaniṣevaṇāt ||
Vasiṣṭha dit : «Le vingt-cinquième principe — le grand Soi — est, en lui-même, sans tache et parfaitement pur. Pourtant, faute de le reconnaître, et par fréquentation et complaisance envers ce qui est pur et impur, ce Soi, bien qu’en vérité sans souillure et sans attache, paraît comme s’il était semblable au pur et à l’impur. Ô seigneur de la terre, à force de tenir compagnie aux êtres sans discernement, même celui qui discerne devient sans discernement.»
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The Self (Puruṣa), though intrinsically pure and unattached, seems to take on impurity or purity due to ignorance (non-recognition) and due to association/indulgence in mixed influences; therefore one should cultivate discernment and avoid the company and habits that erode it.
Vasiṣṭha instructs a king (addressed as ‘lord of the earth’) in a philosophical-ethical discourse: he identifies the ‘twenty-fifth principle’ as the pure Self and explains how ignorance and association with pure/impure objects makes it appear otherwise, concluding with a practical warning about the corrupting power of bad company.