Shloka 49

Devanagari script

एवमव्यक्तविषयं क्षरमाहुर्मनीषिण: । पज्चविंशतिमो यो<यं ज्ञानादेव प्रवर्तते,इस प्रकार ज्ञानी पुरुष प्रकृतिसे उत्पन्न हुए पदार्थोंको क्षर कहते हैं। उपर्युका चौबीस तत्त्वोंसे भिन्न जो पचीसवाँ तत्त्व--परमपुरुष परमात्मा बताया गया है, वही अक्षर है। उसकी प्राप्ति ज्ञानसे ही होती है

Transliteration

evam avyaktaviṣayaṁ kṣaram āhur manīṣiṇaḥ | pañcaviṁśatimo yo 'yaṁ jñānād eva pravartate ||

Translation

ヴァシシュタは言った。「このように、賢者たちは、未顕（プラクリティ）を領域と基盤とする一切を『クシャラ（滅びゆくもの）』と呼ぶ。だが、二十四の展開（生成物）とは別なる第二十五の原理、すなわち至上のプルシャ、最高の自己こそ『アクシャラ（不滅）』である。彼に到る道は、ただ真の智（ジュニャーナ）によってのみ開かれる。」

Word by Word

एवम्thus

अव्यक्त-विषयम्having the unmanifest as its object/domain

क्षरम्the perishable (principle/entity)

आहुःthey have said/call

मनीषिणःthe wise (sages)

पञ्चविंशतिमःthe twenty-fifth

यःwho/which

अयम्this

ज्ञानात्from/through knowledge

एवindeed/only

प्रवर्ततेproceeds/comes forth/operates

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

व

वसिष्ठ (Vasiṣṭha)

अ

अव्यक्त (Avyakta / Prakṛti)

प

परमपुरुष (Paramapuruṣa)

प

परमात्मा (Paramātman)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

All phenomena grounded in the Unmanifest (prakṛti) are ‘kṣara’—perishable and changing. Beyond the twenty-four principles stands the twenty-fifth, the Supreme Self (Paramapuruṣa/Paramātman), called ‘akṣara’—imperishable. Realization of this imperishable principle is attained only through jñāna (discriminative knowledge).

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation and right understanding, Vasiṣṭha explains a Sāṅkhya-style distinction between the perishable field of prakṛti and its evolutes versus the imperishable supreme Self, emphasizing knowledge as the means to attain the highest reality.