Shloka 6

Yājñavalkya on the Unity of Sāṃkhya and Yoga and the Marks of Meditative Composure

Devanagari script

षोडशी तु कला सूक्ष्मा स सोम उपधार्यताम्‌ | न तूपयुज्यते देवै्देवानुपयुनक्ति सा,अमा नामक जो सोलहवीं सूक्ष्म कला है, वही सोम है अर्थात्‌ जीवकी प्रकृति है, यह तुम निश्चितरूपसे जान लो। देवतालोग अर्थात्‌ अन्तःकरण और इन्द्रियगण जिनको पंद्रह कलाओंके नामसे कहा गया, वे उस सोलहवीं कलाका उपयोग नहीं कर सकते; किंतु वे सोलहवीं कला अर्थात्‌ उन सबकी कारणभूता प्रकृति ही उनका उपयोग करती है

Transliteration

ṣoḍaśī tu kalā sūkṣmā sa soma upadhāryatām | na tūpayujyate devair devān upayuṅkti sā ||

Translation

Vasiṣṭha berkata: Kalā yang keenam belas, yang amat halus, hendaklah difahami teguh sebagai Soma itu sendiri—yakni sifat asal makhluk hidup. Para ‘dewa’—maksudnya fakulti batin dan pancaindera, yang disebut sebagai lima belas kalā—tidak mampu menggunakan prinsip keenam belas itu; sebaliknya, kalā keenam belas itulah, Prakṛti yang menjadi sebab dasar bagi semuanya, yang menggunakan serta mengarah mereka.

Word by Word

ṣoḍaśīsixteenth

tubut/indeed

kalāpart, digit, portion (kalā)

sūkṣmāsubtle

sāthat (she/it)

somaḥSoma (moon/nectar principle)

upadhāryatāmlet it be understood/accepted

nanot

tuhowever

upayujyateis employed/used

devaiḥby the gods

devānthe gods

upayuṅkteemploys/uses

sāthat (she/it)

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vasiṣṭha

Soma

devas (as inner faculties and senses)

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?

The verse distinguishes the fifteen functional constituents (identified with the inner organ and senses) from a sixteenth, subtler causal principle called Soma. The key point is agency: the senses and mental faculties do not ‘use’ the deepest causal nature; rather, that underlying nature employs the faculties, indicating a hierarchy from subtle cause to gross function.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Vasiṣṭha is explaining a metaphysical analysis of the person: how the senses and inner faculties operate, and how their operation depends on a subtler foundational principle (the sixteenth kalā), framed here as Soma.