Shloka 83

Utkramaṇa-sthāna and Ariṣṭa-lakṣaṇa: Yājñavalkya’s Instruction on Departure Pathways and Mortality Signs

Devanagari script

पश्यामि भगवंस्तस्मान्मोक्षधर्मो न विद्यते । भगवन्‌! इस प्रकार प्रकृति और पुरुष दोनों ही एक दूसरेके गुणोंकों आच्छादित करके एक दूसरेके गुणोंका आश्रयः लेते हुए सृष्टि करते हैं। इस तरह मैं इन दोनोंको सदा एक दूसरेसे सम्बद्ध देखता हूँ। अतः पुरुषके लिये मोक्षधर्मकी सिद्धि असम्भव जान पड़ती है

Transliteration

Janaka uvāca: paśyāmi bhagavaṁs tasmān mokṣadharmo na vidyate. bhagavan, evaṁ prakṛti-puruṣau ubhau anyonya-guṇān ācchādayitvā anyonya-guṇānām āśrayaṁ gṛhṇantau sṛṣṭiṁ kurutaḥ. evaṁ ca aham etau ubhau sadā anyonyena sambaddhau paśyāmi. ataḥ puruṣasya mokṣadharmasya siddhir asambhavā pratibhāti.

Translation

阇那迦言：“尊者，是故我见，通向解脱之法似乎并不存在。世尊！以此方式，原质（Prakṛti）与神我（Puruṣa）彼此遮蔽对方之德相，又依凭对方之德相而生起造化。故我常见此二者相连不离。由此看来，神我欲成就解脱之道，实难可得。”

Word by Word

• {'janaka uvāca': 'Janaka said', 'paśyāmi': 'I see, I perceive', 'bhagavan/bhagavaṁs': 'O venerable one

• Blessed Lord (honorific address to the teacher)', 'tasmāt': 'therefore, from that (reason)', 'mokṣa-dharma': 'the dharma/discipline whose aim is liberation', 'na vidyate': 'does not exist

• is not found', 'prakṛti': 'primordial nature

• material principle constituted of guṇas', 'puruṣa': 'conscious principle

• the witness-self', 'ubhau': 'both', 'anyonya': 'mutual

• of one another', 'guṇa': 'quality/strand (sattva, rajas, tamas)

• attribute', 'ācchādayitvā': 'having covered/veiled', 'āśrayaṁ gṛhṇantau': 'taking support/refuge

• depending upon', 'sṛṣṭiṁ kurutaḥ': 'they create

• they bring forth creation', 'sadā': 'always', 'sambaddha': 'connected, bound together, correlated', 'ataḥ': 'therefore', 'siddhi': 'attainment, accomplishment', 'asambhavā': 'impossible, not feasible', 'pratibhāti': 'appears (to me), seems'}

Speaker

जनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Janaka
• Prakṛti
• Puruṣa
• Bhagavān (addressed teacher)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Janaka raises a philosophical objection: if Prakṛti (nature) and Puruṣa (consciousness) are always mutually intertwined—each depending on and obscuring the other—then the very possibility of Puruṣa’s complete release (mokṣa) seems doubtful. The verse frames a problem that the teacher must resolve: how liberation is possible despite apparent inseparability.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Mokṣadharma section of Śānti Parva, King Janaka addresses a revered instructor and articulates his reasoning. Observing creation as arising from the mutual involvement of Prakṛti and Puruṣa, he concludes that a distinct ‘path to liberation’ for Puruṣa appears impossible, prompting further doctrinal clarification.