Shloka 41
अव्यक्त–पुरुष–विवेकः (Discrimination of Avyakta/Prakṛti and Puruṣa) — Yājñavalkya’s Anvīkṣikī to Viśvāvasu
अव्यक्तं क्षेत्रमित्युक्ते तथा सत्त्वं तथेश्वर: । अनीश्वरमतत्त्वं च तत्त्व तत् पजचविंशकम्
avyaktaṃ kṣetram ity ukte tathā sattvaṃ tatheśvaraḥ | anīśvaram atattvaṃ ca tattva tat pañcaviṃśakam ||
وسِشٹھ نے کہا— جب اَوْیَکت کو ‘کشیتر’ کہا جاتا ہے تو اس کے ساتھ ‘ستّو’ اور ‘ایشور’ کا ذکر بھی آتا ہے۔ مگر جو ایشور سے خالی ہو وہ اَتَتْو (غیر حقیقت) ہے؛ حقیقت تو وہی پچیسواں اصول ہے۔
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes the unmanifest ‘field’ (kṣetra) and associated categories from the ultimate governing reality: without acknowledging a Lord/overseeing Self, the account remains ‘non-reality’ (atattva); true reality is the twenty-fifth principle, the transcendent ruler beyond the twenty-four principles of prakṛti.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing on philosophical discrimination in the Śānti Parva: he frames the ‘field’ as the unmanifest basis of nature and then asserts that a complete and true account must include the supreme governing principle (the twenty-fifth tattva), guiding the listener toward right understanding for liberation-oriented dharma.