Shloka 6
Jarā-Mṛtyu-anatikrama: Janaka–Pañcaśikha-saṃvāda
Aging and Death Cannot Be Overstepped
अहड्कारस्तु भूतानां पञ्चानां नात्र संशय: । अहड्कारस्य च तथा बुद्धिर्विद्या नरेश्वर,नरेश्वर! उन सूक्ष्म पञ्चभूतोंकी विद्या अहंकार है, इसमें कोई संशय नहीं है तथा अहंकारकी विद्या बुद्धि मानी गयी है
ahaṅkāras tu bhūtānāṃ pañcānāṃ nātra saṃśayaḥ | ahaṅkārasya ca tathā buddhir vidyā nareśvara ||
Vasiṣṭha nói: “Tâu đại vương, đối với năm yếu tố vi tế, ‘tri kiến’ chi phối chúng chính là ngã mạn (ahaṅkāra)—không còn nghi ngờ gì. Và đối với ngã mạn, ‘tri kiến’ thuộc về nó được hiểu là buddhi, trí tuệ phân biệt.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links levels of inner cognition: the five (subtle) elements are associated with the ego-principle (ahaṅkāra) as their governing ‘knowledge,’ and the ego-principle itself is governed/known through buddhi (discriminative intellect). It points to a hierarchy of principles used for self-analysis and liberation-oriented discernment.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Vasiṣṭha addresses a king and expounds a philosophical account of inner faculties and elemental principles, clarifying how ahaṅkāra and buddhi function as successive layers in understanding experience and the self.