Shloka 77
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
यदा तु मन्यते5न्यो5हमन्य एष इति द्विज: । तदा स केवलीभूत: षड्विंशमनुपश्यति
yadā tu manyate 'nyo 'ham anya eṣa iti dvijaḥ | tadā sa kevalībhūtaḥ ṣaḍviṁśam anupaśyati ||
Mais lorsqu’un dvija, un « deux-fois-né », en vient à penser : « Je suis l’un, et cet autre est différent », alors, enfermé dans une vision isolée, il ne perçoit que le vingt-sixième principe : il voit le réel à travers le prisme de la séparation, non par l’intuition non-duelle.
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that the moment one fixes the thought “I am separate and the other is separate,” one’s vision becomes narrowed; such a person, isolated in a dualistic standpoint, apprehends reality only as a limited principle (the ‘twenty-sixth’), rather than as the deeper unity taught in liberation-oriented discourse.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Yājñavalkya explains how a seeker’s inner conception shapes perception: adopting the ‘I vs. other’ notion leads to a constrained, isolating view of the self and the world, contrasted with the liberating vision that transcends such division.