Shloka 39

Adhyāya 302: Guṇa-vicāra, Gati-bheda, and the Imperishable State

Yājñavalkya–Janaka

Devanagari script

यन्मर्त्यमसृजद्‌ व्यक्त तत्तन्मूर्त्यधितिष्ठति । चतुर्विशतिमो<व्यक्तो हामूर्त: पडचविंशक:,महत्तत्त्व आदि व्यक्त पदार्थ जिन मरणशील (नश्वर) पदार्थोंकी सृष्टि करते हैं, वे किसी- न-किसी आकार या मूर्तिका आश्रय लेकर स्थित होते हैं। गणना करनेपर चौबीसवाँ तत्त्व है अव्यक्त प्रकृति और पचीसवाँ है निराकार परमात्मा

Transliteration

yan martyam asṛjad vyakta tat tan mūrty adhitiṣṭhati | caturviṁśatimo ’vyakto hā mūrtaḥ pañcaviṁśakaḥ ||

Translation

Disse Vasiṣṭha: Tudo quanto no mundo perecível é produzido a partir dos princípios manifestos, permanece apoiando-se em alguma forma — um “corpo” ou configuração. Na contagem dos princípios, o vigésimo quarto é o Não-Manifesta (Avyakta, Prakṛti) e o vigésimo quinto é o Supremo Si mesmo, sem forma.

Word by Word

• {'yan': 'whatever, that which', 'martyam': 'mortal, perishable

• the transient world/objects', 'asṛjat': 'created, produced (aorist of √sṛj)', 'vyakta': 'the manifest

• manifest principles/evolutes', 'tat tat': 'each and every (of those)', 'mūrti': 'form, embodiment, concrete configuration', 'adhitiṣṭhati': 'abides in, rests upon, is established in', 'caturviṁśatimaḥ': 'the twenty-fourth', 'avyaktaḥ': 'the unmanifest (Prakṛti)', 'pañcaviṁśakaḥ': 'the twenty-fifth', 'amūrtaḥ': 'formless, unembodied', 'paramātmā (implied by context)': 'the Supreme Self'}

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vasiṣṭha
• Avyakta (Prakṛti)
• Amūrta/Paramātmā (Formless Supreme Self)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

All manifest, perishable products depend on some determinate form (mūrti) to exist, while the causal ground is the Unmanifest Prakṛti (24th principle) and beyond it stands the Formless Supreme Self (25th), indicating a hierarchy from embodied effects to unembodied ultimate reality.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Vasiṣṭha explains a Sāṅkhya-style enumeration of principles (tattvas), distinguishing the manifest evolutes that appear in forms from the unmanifest Prakṛti and the transcendent, formless Supreme Self.