आत्मदर्शन-उपदेशः (Ātma-darśana Upadeśa) — Mind, Senses, and the All-pervading Self
व्यास उवाच अनाद्यन्तमजं दिव्यमजरं ध्रुवमव्ययम् । अप्रतर्क्यमविज्ञेयं ब्रह्माग्रे सम्प्रवर्तते
vyāsa uvāca | anādyantam ajaṃ divyam ajaraṃ dhruvam avyayam | apratarkyam avijñeyaṃ brahma agre sampravartate ||
Sinabi ni Vyasa: “Anak ko, sa pinakasimula ng paglikha ay tanging Brahman lamang ang umiiral—walang pasimula at walang wakas, hindi isinilang, banal, hindi tumatanda, matatag at di-nasisira; lampas sa maaabot ng pangangatwiran at hindi bagay na nalalaman sa karaniwang pag-unawa.”
व्यास उवाच
The verse asserts Brahman as the primordial and ultimate reality: beginningless, endless, unborn, unchanging, and beyond the limits of discursive reasoning and objectifying knowledge. Ethical and spiritual life is thereby oriented toward humility, renunciation of egoic claims, and pursuit of direct realization rather than mere argument.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and higher wisdom, Vyāsa addresses the listener (implicitly a disciple/son) and begins a cosmological-metaphysical exposition: before all manifested creation, only the absolute Brahman is said to prevail.