Shloka 25
Utkramaṇa-sthāna and Ariṣṭa-lakṣaṇa: Yājñavalkya’s Instruction on Departure Pathways and Mortality Signs
पुमांश्चैवापुमांश्चैव त्रैलिड्रयं प्राकृतं स््मृतम् । न वापुमान् पुमांश्चैव स लिज्लीत्यभिधीयते
puṁś caivāpuṁś caiva trailiṅgyaṁ prākṛtaṁ smṛtam | na vāpuṁān puṁś caiva sa liṅgīty abhidhīyate ||
ヴァシシュタは言った。「『男』も『非男』も、さらには性相の三種の標（しるし）も、いずれもプラクリティ（物質自然）に属すると伝えられる。だがそれらの標を担い、その拠り所となる者——リンギー、すなわちそれらを支える自己——は、男とも非男とも呼ばれない。彼はプルシャとプラクリティの双方を離れ、その分類を超越する。」
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Gender and its threefold markers are products of Prakṛti (the guṇa-made field). The true Self (liṅgī), which supports and witnesses these markers, cannot be reduced to any such category; it transcends the oppositions of male/non-male and stands distinct from both Puruṣa and Prakṛti as commonly conceived in embodied experience.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Vasiṣṭha explains to his listener that bodily and psychological classifications—here expressed through gender-markers—belong to nature (Prakṛti). He redirects attention to the underlying Self, emphasizing detachment from identity-constructs as a step toward liberation.