Shloka 17
तस्थुषं पुरुष नित्यमभेद्यमजरामरम् । शाश्वृतं चाव्ययं चैव ईशान ब्रह्म चाव्ययम्
tasthuṣaṁ puruṣa nityam abhedyam ajarāmaram | śāśvataṁ cāvyayaṁ caiva īśānaṁ brahma cāvyayam ||
Yājñavalkya berkata: “Dia, Purusha Yang Tertinggi, berdiri teguh untuk selama-lamanya—tidak terbahagi, tidak mereput, tidak menua dan tidak mati; kekal dan tidak binasa. Dialah Tuhan (Īśāna), Brahman yang tidak dapat musnah itu sendiri.”
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts the ultimate reality as the Supreme Person/Brahman: eternally established, indivisible, beyond decay and death, and therefore not subject to the changes that govern embodied life. Ethically, it grounds detachment and steadiness by pointing to an unchanging spiritual foundation.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and higher knowledge, the sage Yājñavalkya is presenting a doctrinal description of the supreme principle—identifying the Lord (Īśāna) with imperishable Brahman—within a teaching dialogue aimed at clarifying the nature of the Self and ultimate reality.