Shloka 25
Utkramaṇa-sthāna and Ariṣṭa-lakṣaṇa: Yājñavalkya’s Instruction on Departure Pathways and Mortality Signs
पुमांश्चैवापुमांश्चैव त्रैलिड्रयं प्राकृतं स््मृतम् । न वापुमान् पुमांश्चैव स लिज्लीत्यभिधीयते
puṁś caivāpuṁś caiva trailiṅgyaṁ prākṛtaṁ smṛtam | na vāpuṁān puṁś caiva sa liṅgīty abhidhīyate ||
Wika ni Vasiṣṭha: “Kapwa ang ‘lalaki’ at ‘di-lalaki,’ at maging ang tatluhang tanda ng kasarian, ay itinuturing na kabilang sa Prakṛti (materyal na kalikasan). Ngunit ang nagdadala at pinagbabatayan ng mga tandang iyon—ang Liṅgī, ang Sarili—ay hindi matatawag na lalaki ni di-lalaki. Siya’y naiiba sa kapwa Puruṣa at Prakṛti, at lampas sa kanilang mga pag-uuri.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Gender and its threefold markers are products of Prakṛti (the guṇa-made field). The true Self (liṅgī), which supports and witnesses these markers, cannot be reduced to any such category; it transcends the oppositions of male/non-male and stands distinct from both Puruṣa and Prakṛti as commonly conceived in embodied experience.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Vasiṣṭha explains to his listener that bodily and psychological classifications—here expressed through gender-markers—belong to nature (Prakṛti). He redirects attention to the underlying Self, emphasizing detachment from identity-constructs as a step toward liberation.