Shloka 16
Brahmopadeśa: Ahiṃsā, Jñāna, and the Kṣetrajña–Sattva Analysis
Chapter 49
अतः: परं तु यद् गुहां तद् भवान् वक्तुमर्हति । सत्त्वक्षेत्रज्ञयो श्वापि सम्बन्ध: केन हेतुना,इसलिये जो परम गुह्य तत्त्व है, वह आपको हमें बतलाना चाहिये। साथ ही यह भी बतलाइये कि बुद्धि और क्षेत्रज्षका सम्बन्ध किस कारणसे हुआ है?
ataḥ paraṁ tu yad guhyaṁ tad bhavān vaktum arhati | sattva-kṣetrajñayor api sambandhaḥ kena hetunā ||
Kaya nararapat na ipaliwanag mo sa amin ang kataas-taasan at pinakalihim na simulain. At sabihin mo rin: sa anong dahilan nagkakaroon ng ugnayan sa pagitan ng sattva (panloob na kakayahan/kalagayang pangkaisipan) at ng kṣetrajña (ang nakakabatid sa “bukid,” ang Sarili)?
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a philosophical inquiry: the listener requests the highest esoteric truth and specifically asks for the causal basis of the linkage between sattva (the mind’s clarifying/purifying principle or inner faculty) and the kṣetrajña (the conscious Self). It points toward a kṣetra–kṣetrajña analysis where liberation depends on discerning how consciousness appears associated with mental qualities.
Vāyudeva, speaking within a didactic dialogue, urges the other speaker to disclose the ‘supreme secret’ teaching. The request is not merely for doctrine but for an explanation of causality—why and how the Self (kṣetrajña) seems connected to the inner constitution (sattva), a key issue in Mahābhārata’s Sāṅkhya-Yoga style instruction.