Shloka 42
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
(सूर्यमव्यक्तमित्युक्तमतिसूर्यस्तु निष्कल: । अविद्या प्रकृतिज्ञेया विद्या पुरुष उच्यते ।।
yājñavalkya uvāca |
(sūryam avyaktam ity uktam ati-sūryas tu niṣkalaḥ |
avidyā prakṛtir jñeyā vidyā puruṣa ucyate ||)
tathaivāvedyam avyaktam vedyaḥ puruṣa ucyate |
calācalam iti proktaṃ tvayā vā tad api me śṛṇu ||
ಯಾಜ್ಞವಲ್ಕ್ಯನು ಹೇಳಿದನು—ಅವ್ಯಕ್ತ ತತ್ತ್ವವನ್ನು ‘ಸೂರ್ಯ’ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾರೆ; ನಿಷ್ಕಲ, ನಿರ್ಗುಣ ತತ್ತ್ವವನ್ನು ‘ಅತಿಸೂರ್ಯ’ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ‘ಅವಿದ್ಯೆ’ ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿ; ಪುರುಷನು ‘ವಿದ್ಯೆ’ ಎಂದು ಉಚ್ಯತೆ. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಅವ್ಯಕ್ತ ‘ಅವೇದ್ಯ’, ಪುರುಷ ‘ವೇದ್ಯ’. ನೀನು ಕೇಳಿದ ಚಲ–ಅಚಲ ವಿಷಯವನ್ನೂ ಈಗ ಕೇಳು.
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes two principles: Prakṛti, identified with avidyā (ignorance) and the unmanifest basis of change, and Puruṣa, identified with vidyā (knowledge) as the knowable conscious reality. It uses metaphors (‘sun’ and ‘beyond-sun’) to indicate levels of subtlety and transcendence, pointing toward liberation through right discernment.
In the Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Yājñavalkya answers a questioner by defining key metaphysical categories—unmanifest nature and conscious self—and then signals that he will proceed to explain the distinction between the moving and the unmoving.