Shloka 12
ब्रह्मघोष-प्रवर्तनम्, अनध्याय-नियमः, वायु-मार्ग-वर्णनम्
Restoring Vedic Recitation, the Anadhyaya Rule, and the Taxonomy of Winds
अन्य: स पुरुषो व्यक्त स्त्वध्रुवो ध्रुवसंज्ञक: । यथा मुज्ज इषीकाणां तथैवैतद्धि जायते
anyaḥ sa puruṣo vyaktaḥ tv adhruvo dhruvasaṃjñakaḥ | yathā muñja iṣīkāṇāṃ tathaivaitad dhi jāyate ||
Yājñavalkya bersabda: “Pribadi yang lain itu—puruṣa yang termanifestasi (diri individual)—sesungguhnya tidak kekal, walau disebut ‘kekal’. Seperti batang rumput muñja yang mengeluarkan serat-inti (iṣīkā) di dalamnya, demikianlah pembedaan (tentang diri) ini terjadi.”
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The manifest individual (the embodied ‘person’ as ordinarily conceived) is not truly permanent, even if people call it ‘eternal.’ Yājñavalkya points to a discriminative insight: what is taken as the enduring self is often a constructed notion, and true discernment separates the essential from the non-essential.
In a didactic discourse within Śānti Parva, Yājñavalkya explains metaphysical discrimination. He uses a concrete rural image—extracting inner fibres from a muñja reed—to illustrate how a distinction or ‘separation’ is made: by analysis one draws out what is subtle/essential from what is gross/outer, clarifying the status of the individual self as commonly understood.