Shloka 31
Utkramaṇa-sthāna and Ariṣṭa-lakṣaṇa: Yājñavalkya’s Instruction on Departure Pathways and Mortality Signs
यत् तद् बुद्धेः परं प्राहु: सांख्या योगाश्व सर्वश: । बुद्धयमानं महाप्राज्ञमबुद्धपरिवर्जनात्
yat tad buddheḥ paraṃ prāhuḥ sāṅkhyā yogāś ca sarvaśaḥ | buddhyamānaṃ mahāprājñam abuddha-parivarjanāt ||
婆悉吒说道：“那一真实，诸数论（Sāṅkhya）与瑜伽行者（Yoga）以种种方式宣说其超越觉慧（buddhi）——至极明智，唯在舍离我慢等无觉之因子时方可知——此即至上我。它被称为不可知、未显（avyakta），亦被称为有相之主与无相之主，恒常不灭，并为内在之依止。故精通数论与瑜伽、志求最高真理的智者，皆知至上我为第二十五原理，超越普拉克里蒂及其诸德（即二十四原理）。”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the Supreme Self (Paramātmā/Puruṣa) is beyond the reach of ordinary intellect and is realized when insentient constituents like ego and other material principles are negated; in Sāṅkhya-Yoga terms, it is the twenty-fifth principle transcending Prakṛti’s twenty-four categories.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and liberation, Vasiṣṭha explains to his listener a Sāṅkhya-Yoga framework: how sages describe the ultimate Reality and how it stands apart from the material constituents, guiding the seeker toward discriminative insight and renunciation of the non-self.