Shloka 27
अव्यक्त–पुरुष–विवेकः (Discrimination of Avyakta/Prakṛti and Puruṣa) — Yājñavalkya’s Anvīkṣikī to Viśvāvasu
अव्यक्तमाहु: प्रकृतिं परां प्रकृतिवादिन: । तस्मान्महत् समुत्पन्नं द्वितीयं राजसत्तम
avyaktam āhuḥ prakṛtiṁ parāṁ prakṛtivādinaḥ | tasmān mahat samutpannaṁ dvitīyaṁ rājasattama, nṛpaśreṣṭha |
वसिष्ठ बोले—प्रकृति-वादियों के अनुसार परम प्रकृति ‘अव्यक्त’ कहलाती है। हे राजश्रेष्ठ! उसी अव्यक्त से दूसरा तत्त्व उत्पन्न होता है, जिसे ‘महत्तत्त्व’ कहते हैं।
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a Prakṛti-based cosmology: the highest Prakṛti is called the Unmanifest (avyakta), and from it emerges the next principle, Mahat (the Great), which functions as the first manifest evolute and a foundation for further creation.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Vasiṣṭha addresses a king and explains a doctrinal account of creation used by Prakṛti-theorists, identifying the Unmanifest as the source and Mahat as the subsequent principle that arises from it.