जनक उवाच अक्षरक्षरयोरेष द्वयोः सम्बन्ध इष्यते। स्त्रीपुंसोऽपि भगवन् सम्बन्धस्तद्वदुच्यते॥
Janaka said O holy one, it has been said that the relation between male and female is like that which exists between the Indestructible and the Destructible.
ऋते तु पुरुषं नेह स्त्री गर्भ धारयत्युत। ऋते स्त्रियं न पुरुषो रूपं निवर्तयेत् तथा॥
Without a male, a female can never conceive. Without a female, a male also can never create a form.
अन्योन्यस्याभिसम्बन्धादन्योन्यगुणसंश्रयात्। रूपं निर्वर्तयत्येतदेवं सर्वासु योनिषु॥ ये
On account of their union with each other, and each depending upon the qualities of the other, forms are seen to spring up. This is the case with all orders of being.
रत्यर्थमभिसम्बन्धादन्योन्यगुणसंश्रयात्। ऋतौ निर्वय॑ते रूपं तद् वक्ष्यामि निदर्शनम्॥
Through each other's union for purposes of (sexual) intercourse, and through each depending upon the qualities of the other, forms (of living creatures) flow in seasons. I shall tell you the indications thereof.
गुणाः पुरुषस्येह ये च मातृगुणास्तथा। अस्थि स्नायुश्च मज्जा च जानीम: पितृणो गुणाः॥
Hear what the qualities are which belong to the father and what those are which belong to mother. Bones, sinews, and marrow, O twiceborn one, we know, originate from the father.
त्वङ्मांसं शोणितं चेति मातृजान्यपि शुश्रुम। एवमेतद् द्विजश्रेष्ठ वेदे शास्त्रे च पठ्यते॥
Skin, flesh, and blood, we hear, originate from the mother. Even this, O foremost of twice-born ones, is what may be read of in the Veda and other scriptures.
प्रमाणं यत् स्ववेदोक्तं शास्त्रोक्तं यच्च पठ्यते। वेदशास्त्रद्वयं चैव प्रमाणं तत् सनातनम्॥
Whatever is read as said in the Vedas and in other scriptures is considered as authority. The authority, again, of the Vedas and other scriptures, is eternal.
अन्योन्यगुणसंरोधादन्योन्यगुणसंश्रयात्। एवमेवाभिसम्बद्धौ नित्यं प्रकृतिपूरुषो॥ पश्यामि भगवंस्तस्मान्मोक्षधर्मो न विद्यते। अथवानन्तरकृतं किंचिदेव निदर्शनम्॥
If Nature and Soul be always united together in this way by each opposing and cach depending on the other's qualities, I see, O holy one, that Liberation cannot exist. You, O holy one, are gifted with spiritual vision so that you see all things as if they are present before your eyes. If, therefore, there be any direct evidence of the existence of Liberation, do speak of it to me.
तन्ममाचक्ष्व तत्त्वेन प्रत्यक्षो ह्यसि सर्वदा। मोक्षकामा वयं चापि काङ्क्षामो यदनामयम्। अदेहमजरं नित्यमतीन्द्रियमनीश्वरम्॥
We are desirous of acquiring Liberation. Indeed, we wish to acquire That which is auspicious, bodiless, not subject to decrepitude, eternal, beyond the perception of the senses, and having nothing superior to it.
वसिष्ठ उवाच यदेतदुक्तं भवता वेदशास्त्रनिदर्शनम्। एवमेतद् यथा चैतन्निगृह्णाति तथा भवान्॥
Vashishtha said What you say about the characteristics of the Vedas and the other scriptures is even so. You understand those marks in the way in which they should be understood.
धार्यते हि त्वया ग्रन्थ उभयोर्वेदशास्त्रयोः। न च ग्रन्थस्य तत्त्वज्ञो यथातत्त्वं नरेश्वर॥
O lord of kings, you only understand aright the texts of the Vedas and other scriptures without understanding the true senses or meaning of those texts, remembering them fruitlessly.
यो हि वेदे च शास्त्रे च ग्रन्थधारणतत्परः। न च ग्रन्थार्थतत्त्वज्ञस्तस्य तद्धारणं वृथा॥ भारं स वहते तस्य ग्रन्थस्यार्थं न वेत्ति यः। यस्तु ग्रन्थार्थतत्त्वज्ञो नास्य ग्रन्थागमो वृथा॥
Indeed, one who remembers a work without understanding their meaning, is said to carry an useless load. He, however, who understands the true meaning of a treatise, is said to have studied that work to purpose.
ग्रन्थस्यार्थस्य पृष्टः संस्तादृशो वक्तुमर्हति। यथा तत्त्वाभिगमनादर्थं तस्य स विन्दति॥
Asked about the meaning of a text, one should communicate that meaning which he has understood by a careful study.
न यः संसत्सु कथयेद् ग्रन्थार्थं स्थूलबुद्धिमान्। स कथं मन्दविज्ञानो ग्रन्थं वक्ष्यति निर्णयात्॥
That person of dull intelligence who refuses to explain the meanings of text in the midst of an assemblage of the learned, that person of foolish understanding, never succeeds in explaining the meaning aright.
निर्णयं चापि छिद्रात्मा न तं वक्ष्यति तत्त्वतः। सोपहासात्मतामेति यस्माच्चैवात्मवानपि॥
An ignorant wight, going to explain the true meaning of treatises, incurs ridicule. Even those endued with a knowledge of the Soul have to incurs ridicule on such occasions.
तस्मात् त्वं शृणु राजेन्द्र यथैतदनुदृश्यते। याथातथ्ये सांख्येषु योगेषु च महात्मसु॥
Listen now to me, O king, as to how the subject of Liberation has been explained among the great persons conversant with the Sankhya and the Yoga Systems of Philosophy.
यदेव योगाः पश्यन्ति सांख्यैस्तदनुगम्यते। एकं सांख्यं च योगं च यः पश्यति स बुद्धिमान्॥
That which the Yogins behold is exactly what the Sankhyas strive after to attain. He who sees the Sankhya and the Yoga Systems to be one and the same is said to be gifted with intelligence.
त्वङ्मांसं रुधिरं मेदः पित्तं मज्जा च स्नायु च। अथ चैन्द्रियकं तात तद् भवानिदमाह माम्॥
Skin, flesh, blood, fat, bile, marrow, and sinews, and these senses, which you were speaking to me, exist.
द्रव्याद् द्रव्यस्य निर्वृत्तिरिन्द्रियादिन्द्रियं तथा। देहाद् देहमवाप्नोति बीजाद् बीजं तथैव च॥
Objects originate from objects; the senses from the senses. From body one acquires a body, as a seed is obtained from seed.
निरिन्द्रियस्याबीजस्य निर्द्रव्यस्याप्यदेहिनः। कथं गुणा भविष्यन्ति निर्गुणत्वान्महात्मनः॥
When the Supreme Being is without senses, without seed, without matter, without body, He must be divested of all qualities; and on account of His being so, how, indeed, can He have qualities of any kind?
गुणा गुणेषु जायन्ते तत्रैव निविशन्ति च। एवं गुणा: प्रकृतितो जायन्ते निविशन्ति च।॥
Ether and other qualities originate from the qualities of Goodness, Darkness, and Ignorance, and disappear in the end in them. Thus the qualities arise from Nature and disappear in Nature.
त्वमांसं रुधिरं मेदः पित्तं मज्जास्थि स्नायु च। अष्टौ तान्यथ शुक्रेण जानीहि प्राकृतानि वै॥
Skin, flesh, blood, fat, bile, marrow, bones, and sinews,-these eight, that are made of Nature, know, O king, may sometimes be produced by the vital seed alone (of the male).
पुमांश्चैवापुमांश्चैव त्रैलिङ्गचं प्राकृतं स्मृतम्। न वापुमान् पुमांश्चैव स लिङ्गीत्यभिधीयते॥
The Individual Soul and the universe are said to both partake of Nature characterised by the three qualities of Goodness, Darkness, and Ignorance. The Supreme Soul is different from both the Individual Soul and the universe.
अलिङ्गात् प्रकृतिर्लिङ्गैरुपालभ्यति सात्मजैः। यथा पुष्पफलैर्नित्यमृतवोऽमूर्तयस्तथा॥
As the seasons, though having no forms, are nevertheless inferred from the appearance of particular fruits and flowers, similarly, Nature, though formless, is inferred from the Principles of Greatness and the rest that originate from it.
एवमप्यनुमानेन ह्यलिङ्गमुपलभ्यते। पञ्चविंशतिमस्तात लिङ्गेषु नियतात्मकः॥
Thus, from the existence of Consciousness in body, the Supreme Soul, shorn of all qualities whatever and perfectly stainless, is inferred.
अनादिनिधनोऽनन्तः सर्वदर्शी निरामयः। केवलं त्वभिमानित्वाद् गुणेषु गुण उच्यते॥
Without beginning and destruction, without end, the seer of all things, and auspicious, that Soul, only on account of its Oneness with the body and other qualities, comes to be taken as invested with qualities.
गुणा गुणवतः सन्ति निर्गुणस्य कुतो गुणाः। तस्मादेवं विजानन्ति ये जना गुणदर्शिनः॥
Those persons who are truly conversant with qualities know that only objects endued with qualities can have attributes but that That which is above all qualities can have none.
यदा त्वेष गुणानेतान् प्राकृतानभिमन्यते। तदा स गुणहान्य तं परमेवानुपश्यति॥
When the Individual Soul conquers all qualities born of Nature and which it assumes under mistake, only then does it see the Supreme Soul.
यत् तद् बुद्धेः परं प्राहुः सांख्या योगाश्च सर्वशः। बुद्ध्यमानं महाप्राज्ञमबुद्धपरिवर्जनात्॥ अप्रबुद्धमथाव्यक्तं सगुणं प्राहुरीश्वरम्। निर्गुणं चेश्वरं नित्यमधिष्ठातारमेव च॥ प्रकृतेश्च गुणानां च पञ्चविंशतिकं बुधाः। सांख्ययोगे च कुशला बुध्यन्ते परमैषिणः॥
Only the highest Rishis conversant with the Sankhya and the Yoga Systems know that Supreme Soul which Sankhyas and Yogins and believers in all other Systems say is beyond the Understanding, which is considered as Knower and endued with the highest wisdom on account of its renouncing all consciousness of identi-fication with nature, which is above the attribute of Ignorance or Error, which is Unmanifest, which is beyond all attributes, which is called the Supreme, which is dissociated from all attributes, which ordains all things, which is Eternal and Immutable, which overrules Nature and all her attributes, and which, getting over twenty-four topics of enquiry, forms the twenty-fifth.
यदा प्रबुद्धा ह्यव्यक्तमवस्थाजन्मभीरवः। बुध्यमानं प्रबुध्यन्ति गमयन्ति समं तदा॥
When men of knowledge, who stand in fear of birth, of the several states of living consciousness, and of death, succeed in knowing the Unmanifest, they succeed in understanding the Supreme Soul at the same time.
एतन्निदर्शनं सम्यगसम्यगनिदर्शनम्। बुध्यमानाप्रबुद्धानां पृथपृथगरिंदम्॥
An intelligent man considers the unity of the Individual Soul with the Supreme Soul as consistent with the scriptures and as perfectly correct; while the man shorn of intelligence considers the two as different from each other. This forms the distinction between the man of intelligence and the man that is shorn of it.
परस्परेणैतदुक्तं क्षराक्षरनिदर्शनम्। एकत्वमक्षरं प्राहुर्नानात्वं क्षरमुच्यते॥
The Characteristics of both the Destructible and Indestructible have now been said to you. The indestructible is Oneness or Unity, while multiplicity or variety is said to be the Destructible.
पञ्चविंशतिनिष्ठोऽयं यदा सम्यक् प्रवर्तते। एकत्वं दर्शनं चास्य नानात्वं चाप्यदर्शनम्॥
When one begins to study and understand property the twenty-five topics of enquiry, one then understands that the oneness of the Soul is consistent with the scriptures and its multiplicity is what is opposed to them.
तत्त्वनिस्तत्त्वयोरेतत् पृथगेव निदर्शनम्। पञ्चविंशतिसगं तु तत्त्वमाहुर्मनीषिणः॥ निस्तत्त्वं पञ्चविंशस्य परमाहुर्निदर्शनम्। सर्गस्य वर्गमाधारं तत्त्वं तत्त्वात् सनातनम्॥
These are the several characteristics of what is included in the list of topics is beyond that number and forms and twenty-sixth. The study or comprehension of created things according to their aggregates (of five) is the study and comprehension of topics. Above these is That which is eternal.