Shloka 37
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
निस्तर्तव्यान्यथैतानि सर्वाणीति नराधिप । मन्यते<यं हाबुद्धत्वात् तथैव सुकृतान्यपि
vasiṣṭha uvāca |
nistartavyāny athaitāni sarvāṇīti narādhipa |
manyate ’yaṃ hābuddhatvāt tathaiva sukṛtāny api ||
婆悉吒说道：“人中王啊，他只因全然无知，便以为这一切境况与对待之相都必须‘渡过’并逃离；甚至对自己的福业也作如是想。于是，在原质（Prakṛti）的驱使下，乐苦等对待之相凭其势头反复回归；而个体之我却因无明，将之当作对‘我’的侵袭，惶惶然求超越。与原质相系之人又妄想：‘我将往诸天界享受一切行为之果；前世善恶业所显现的果报也必当在此受用。’由此误认，反自缚于忧苦。”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse critiques ignorance: a person misidentifies recurring pleasure–pain dualities and karmic outcomes as personal attacks and believes they must be forcibly ‘escaped.’ This mistaken self-notion (born of avidyā) sustains anxiety and bondage; wisdom sees these as natural recurrences within prakṛti and as karmic fruition, not as the true Self.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation-oriented ethics and metaphysics, Vasiṣṭha addresses a king and explains how the embodied person, conjoined with prakṛti, forms wrong beliefs about suffering, merit, and heavenly enjoyment—thereby perpetuating sorrow and continued wandering.