Shloka 6
Yājñavalkya on the Unity of Sāṃkhya and Yoga and the Marks of Meditative Composure
षोडशी तु कला सूक्ष्मा स सोम उपधार्यताम् | न तूपयुज्यते देवै्देवानुपयुनक्ति सा
ṣoḍaśī tu kalā sūkṣmā sa soma upadhāryatām | na tūpayujyate devair devān upayuṅkti sā ||
瓦西什塔说道：第十六迦罗极其微细，当坚定了知其即是苏摩本身——亦即有情自身的原初本性。所谓“诸天”，即内在机能与诸根，被称为十五迦罗者，不能运用那第十六原理；反之，正是第十六迦罗——作为一切之因的本性（Prakṛti）——在运用并统摄它们。
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes the fifteen functional constituents (identified with the inner organ and senses) from a sixteenth, subtler causal principle called Soma. The key point is agency: the senses and mental faculties do not ‘use’ the deepest causal nature; rather, that underlying nature employs the faculties, indicating a hierarchy from subtle cause to gross function.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Vasiṣṭha is explaining a metaphysical analysis of the person: how the senses and inner faculties operate, and how their operation depends on a subtler foundational principle (the sixteenth kalā), framed here as Soma.