Shloka 29
अव्यक्त–पुरुष–विवेकः (Discrimination of Avyakta/Prakṛti and Puruṣa) — Yājñavalkya’s Anvīkṣikī to Viśvāvasu
एता: प्रकृतयश्चाष्टी विकाराश्चापि षोडश | पज्च चैव विशेषा वै तथा पउ्चेन्द्रियाणि च
etāḥ prakṛtayaś cāṣṭī vikārāś cāpi ṣoḍaśa | pañca caiva viśeṣā vai tathā pañcendriyāṇi ca ||
Vasiṣṭha disse: “Estes são os oito princípios primordiais (prakṛtis), e há também dezesseis evolutos (vikāras). Além disso, existem cinco entidades ‘particularizadas’ (viśeṣas), e igualmente as cinco faculdades sensoriais. Assim, o ensinamento classifica a realidade em causas fundamentais e em seus produtos manifestos, para que se discirna o Si mesmo do campo da Natureza e se afrouxe o apego ao que é meramente composto.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a Sāṅkhya-style map of reality: eight foundational principles (prakṛtis) and sixteen evolutes (vikāras), with mention of five particularized entities (viśeṣas) and the five sense-faculties. The aim is discriminative knowledge—seeing what is produced and changeable as distinct from the witnessing self—supporting detachment and liberation.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Vasiṣṭha is expounding philosophical categories to clarify how the world of experience is constituted. He enumerates principles and their products as part of a broader counsel on inner peace and right understanding after the devastation of war.