Shloka 58
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
विश्वावयुरुवाच पज्चविंशं यदेतत् ते प्रोक्त ब्राह्मणसत्तम । तथा तन्न तथा चेति तद् भवान् वक्तुमहति
Viśvāyur uvāca—pañcaviṁśaṁ yad etat te proktaṁ brāhmaṇa-sattama, tathā tan na tathā ceti tad bhavān vaktum arhati.
ヴィシュヴァーユは言った。「婆羅門の中の最勝者よ。あなたが第二十五の原理について、個我は至上我と異ならぬと説かれたことに関して、この疑いが生じます。個我はまことに至上と同一なのでしょうか、それとも同一ではないのでしょうか。どうか明らかにお説きください。」
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a key Vedāntic inquiry: whether the individual self (jīvātman), described as the ‘twenty-fifth principle,’ is truly non-different from the Supreme Self (paramātman). It emphasizes the need for precise clarification when teaching non-duality, because liberation-oriented ethics and practice depend on correct understanding of the self.
An interlocutor named Viśvāyu raises a philosophical doubt to the revered teacher addressed as ‘best of Brāhmaṇas.’ He asks the teacher to resolve the apparent contradiction—‘so or not so’—about the identity of the individual self with the Supreme, prompting a more explicit doctrinal explanation.