Shloka 14
गुणानां महदादीनामुत्पत्तिश्व॒ परस्परम् । अधिष्ठानात् क्षेत्रमाहुरेतत्तत् पजचविंशकम्,महत्तत््व आदि गुणोंकी उत्पत्ति प्रकृति और पुरुषके परस्पर संयोगसे होती है; अतः एक-दूसरेका अधिष्ठान होनेके कारण पुरुषको भी क्षेत्र कहते हैं
guṇānāṁ mahad-ādīnām utpattiś ca parasparam | adhiṣṭhānāt kṣetram āhur etat tat pañcaviṁśakam ||
Vasiṣṭha dit : «Les principes manifestés — à commencer par Mahat et les autres, évolutions des guṇa — naissent de la conjonction réciproque de Prakṛti et de Puruṣa. Parce que chacun sert de support (adhiṣṭhāna) à l’autre, cet ensemble est appelé le “champ” (kṣetra) ; ainsi, même Puruṣa est dit kṣetra dans ce cadre des vingt-cinq principes.»
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Cosmic manifestation (from Mahat onward) is explained as arising from the association of Prakṛti (material nature) and Puruṣa (conscious witness). Because experience depends on their mutual grounding, the tradition can speak of the whole complex as ‘kṣetra’ (field), even extending the term to Puruṣa in this Sāṅkhya-style, twenty-five-principle account.
In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, Vasiṣṭha is instructing on philosophical analysis of reality—how the constituents of the world arise and how the ‘field’ of experience is defined—using Sāṅkhya categories to clarify the relation between nature (Prakṛti) and consciousness (Puruṣa).