Shloka 27
Utkramaṇa-sthāna and Ariṣṭa-lakṣaṇa: Yājñavalkya’s Instruction on Departure Pathways and Mortality Signs
एवमप्यनुमानेन हालिड्रमुपल भ्यते । पजञ्चविंशतिमस्तात लिड्लेषु नियतात्मक:
evam apy anumānena hālīdram upalabhyate | pañcaviṁśatim astāt liṅgeṣu niyatātmakaḥ ||
Demikian pula, melalui penalaran (inferensi) orang menangkap Sang Diri yang murni-berkesadaran, terpisah dari segala ‘tanda’ (liṅga). Sebagaimana matahari—karena menerangi yang terlihat—dipahami berbeda dari benda-benda yang tampak, demikian pula Ātman yang hakikatnya adalah pengetahuan berdiri terpisah dari segala yang dapat diketahui karena Ia menyingkapkannya. Wahai anakku, Ātman itulah prinsip ke dua puluh lima, yang meresapi semua keadaan berwujud secara tetap dan ajek.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The Self (ātman/puruṣa) is not an object among objects; it is the illuminator of all knowables. Therefore it is known not by direct sensory grasp but by inference—recognizing that whatever is revealed requires a revealer. This Self is identified as the twenty-fifth principle (puruṣa) that pervades all embodied states.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing a listener (addressed affectionately as ‘dear one’) in discriminative knowledge: distinguishing consciousness from the ‘liṅgas’—the marks or constituents associated with embodiment. He uses an inference-based analogy (and, in the accompanying gloss, the sun’s illumination) to argue that the knower is distinct from the known.