Shloka 326
आत्मरूपगुणानेतान् विविधान् हृदयप्रियान् । इस प्रकार प्रकृतिसे संयुक्त हुआ पुरुष तत्त्वज्ञान होनेसे पहले मनको प्रिय लगनेवाले नाना प्रकारके अपने व्यापारोंको क्रीड़ाके लिये बार-बार करता और उन्हें अपना कर्तव्य मानता है
ātmarūpaguṇānetān vividhān hṛdayapriyān |
Vasiṣṭha berkata: “Sifat-sifat yang pelbagai ini, yang mengambil rupa sebagai diri dan tampak menyenangkan hati—sebelum pengetahuan sejati muncul, Puruṣa yang bersatu dengan Prakṛti berulang kali melakukan pelbagai kegiatan yang disukai minda seolah-olah bermain, lalu menganggapnya sebagai kewajipannya sendiri.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Before discriminative knowledge (tattvajñāna) arises, consciousness (puruṣa) identifies with nature’s qualities (guṇas) as ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Because these feel pleasant to the heart, one repeats actions for enjoyment and mistakenly treats them as true duty; wisdom begins by seeing this as conditioned habit rather than dharma grounded in truth.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing about the psychology of bondage: the self, entangled with prakṛti, cycles through attractive activities like a game. The verse frames ordinary action as repetition driven by liking, prior to awakening into reality-knowledge that separates the seer (puruṣa) from the seen (guṇas).