Shloka 6
Yājñavalkya on the Unity of Sāṃkhya and Yoga and the Marks of Meditative Composure
षोडशी तु कला सूक्ष्मा स सोम उपधार्यताम् | न तूपयुज्यते देवै्देवानुपयुनक्ति सा
ṣoḍaśī tu kalā sūkṣmā sa soma upadhāryatām | na tūpayujyate devair devān upayuṅkti sā ||
Wika ni Vasiṣṭha: Ang ika-labing-anim na kalā, na lubhang maselan, ay dapat maunawaang matatag bilang mismong Soma—ang pangunahing likas na kalikasan ng nilalang. Ang mga ‘diyos’—na ang ibig sabihin ay ang mga panloob na kakayahan at mga pandama, na tinatawag na labinlimang kalā—ay hindi makagagamit sa ika-labing-anim na simulain; bagkus, ang ika-labing-anim na kalā, ang Prakṛti na sanhi at saligan ng lahat, ang siyang gumagamit at gumagabay sa kanila.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes the fifteen functional constituents (identified with the inner organ and senses) from a sixteenth, subtler causal principle called Soma. The key point is agency: the senses and mental faculties do not ‘use’ the deepest causal nature; rather, that underlying nature employs the faculties, indicating a hierarchy from subtle cause to gross function.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Vasiṣṭha is explaining a metaphysical analysis of the person: how the senses and inner faculties operate, and how their operation depends on a subtler foundational principle (the sixteenth kalā), framed here as Soma.