Shloka 55
Brahmā’s Instruction on Brahmacarya, Vānaprastha, and the Aliṅga Path
Ethics of Non-attachment
मनो बुद्धिरहंकारमव्यक्तं पुरुषं तथा । एतत् सर्व प्रसंख्याय यथावत् तत्त्वनिश्चयात्
mano buddhir ahaṅkāram avyaktaṁ puruṣaṁ tathā | etat sarva prasaṅkhyāya yathāvat tattvaniścayāt ||
Vāyu said: “Mind, intellect, ego-sense, the unmanifest principle, and also the Person (Puruṣa)—having duly enumerated all these in their proper order, one arrives at a firm ascertainment of reality.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Systematic discrimination of inner principles—mind, intellect, ego, the unmanifest source, and the conscious Puruṣa—leads to tattva-niścaya, a decisive grasp of reality. The verse emphasizes ordered analysis (Sāṅkhya-style enumeration) as a means to clarity about what is material/psychic and what is the witnessing consciousness.
Vāyudeva is speaking in a didactic context, presenting a concise philosophical instruction. He points the listener toward a method: enumerate and distinguish the constituents of experience and the underlying principles, so that correct understanding of truth can be established.