Shloka 203

Devanagari script

चतुर्विशमसारं च षड्विंशस्य प्रबोधनात्‌ । छब्बीसवाँ तत्त्व परमात्मा अजन्मा, सर्वव्यापी और संगदोषसे रहित है। उसकी शरण लेकर जब जीवात्मा उसके स्वरूपका साक्षात्कार कर लेता है, तब परमात्म-ज्ञानके प्रभावसे स्वयं भी सर्वव्यापी हो जाता है तथा चौबीस तत्त्वोंसे युक्त प्रकृतिको असार समझकर त्याग देता है

Transliteration

caturviśam asāraṃ ca ṣaḍviṃśasya prabodhanāt |

Translation

वसिष्ठ उवाच—षड्विंशतितत्त्वस्य प्रबोधनात् चतुर्विंशतितत्त्वसमूहं प्रकृतिं चासारं विद्यात्। षड्विंशं तत्त्वं परमात्मा—अजन्मा सर्वव्यापी च सङ्गदोषविवर्जितः। तस्य शरणं गत्वा यदा जीवात्मा तस्य स्वरूपं साक्षात्करोति, तदा परमात्मज्ञानप्रभावात् स्वयमपि (इव) सर्वव्यापी भवति; चतुर्विंशतितत्त्वयुक्तां प्रकृतिं तु असारां मत्वा परित्यजति।

Word by Word

चतुर्विंशम्the twenty-four (principle)

असारम्insubstantial, not the essence

चand

षड्विंशस्यof the twenty-sixth (principle)

प्रबोधनात्from (the act of) awakening/realization

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vasiṣṭha

Paramātman

Jīvātman

Prakṛti

twenty-four tattvas

twenty-sixth tattva

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?

Realization of the twenty-sixth principle (Paramātman)—unborn, all-pervading, and free from the taint of association—dissolves the sense of limitation in the individual self. With the rise of supreme knowledge, one ceases to treat the twenty-four evolutes of Prakṛti as ultimately real or worthy of attachment, and thus turns toward liberation through dispassion and insight.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vasiṣṭha is instructing on metaphysical discernment: distinguishing Prakṛti’s twenty-four principles from the transcendent Supreme Self. The passage frames liberation as taking refuge in the Supreme, attaining direct realization, and thereby abandoning identification with the insubstantial constituents of nature.