Shloka 51
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
अलिड़्ो लिड्रमात्मानमकाल: कालमात्मन: | असत्त्वं सत्त्वमात्मानमतत्त्वं तत््वमात्मन:
aliḍo liḍram ātmānam akālaḥ kālam ātmanaḥ | asattvaṃ sattvam ātmānam atattvaṃ tattvam ātmanaḥ ||
婆悉吒说道：“真我本不为细身（liṅga-śarīra）所标记，却妄自以为有其标记；本无时间，反自认受时间与死亡所系；本超越诸德性（guṇa），却幻想自己由萨埵（sattva）所成；本不具粗大诸元素及诸原理，却误以为自己亦是一‘真谛/原理’（tattva）而列于诸tattva之中。由此错认，清净之我被当作非我之物。”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that bondage is a cognitive error: the timeless, attributeless Self is falsely identified with the subtle body, time/death, the guṇas (like sattva), and the material principles (tattvas). Liberation follows from correcting this misidentification through discernment.
In Śānti Parva’s mokṣa-oriented instruction, Vasiṣṭha is explaining to his listener how the Self is misconstrued as embodied and perishable. He lists common superimpositions—subtle body, mortality, guṇas, and elements—to show the mechanism of delusion and the need for discriminative knowledge.