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Yudhiṣṭhira said.
That which is free from righteousness and unrighteousness, free from all dependence, free from birth and death, and free from both merit and sin.
You are worthy to speak of that which is auspicious, eternal, fearless, imperishable, unchanging, pure, and effortless.
Bhīṣma said.
O Bhārata, here I shall narrate to you the ancient history, the dialogue between Yājñavalkya and Janaka.
Janaka, the renowned king of the Daivarāti lineage, who was foremost among those skilled in questioning, asked Yājñavalkya, the greatest of sages, a question.
O best of Brāhmaṇas, how many senses are there, and how many primordial natures are remembered? What is the unmanifest, the supreme Brahman, and what exists beyond that?
O best of Brāhmaṇas, you are worthy to speak of the origin, dissolution, and likewise the reckoning of time, for we are desiring your favor.
Because of my ignorance, I ask you thoroughly, for you are truly a treasure of knowledge. Therefore, I wish to hear all this from you without any doubt.
Yājñavalkya said.
O king, listen to what you have asked: the supreme knowledge of the yogas, and especially that of the Sāṅkhyas.
There is nothing unknown to you, yet you ask me; when asked, one should answer—this is the eternal law.
It is said that there are eight natures and also sixteen modifications. Now, those who contemplate on the self declare that there are seven manifested entities.
The unmanifest, the great principle, and likewise the ego-principle, as well as earth, air, space, water, and light as the fifth element.
Hear from me about these natures and also the eight modifications. The ear, skin, eye, tongue, nose, and the fifth (sense).
Sound, touch, form, taste, and smell; likewise, speech, hands, feet, anus, and genitals.
O Maithila, these particularities, O king, exist in the five great elements. These organs of intellect are also with particularities.
Those who contemplate the movement of the self have declared the mind to be sixteenfold; you, as well as other learned ones skilled in discerning the truth, have also affirmed this.
O king, from the unmanifest, the great self arises; the wise call this first creation the primordial one.
O king, from the Mahat (great principle), the ego-principle also arises. This is called the second creation, and it is remembered as being of the nature of intellect.
The mind, which arises from ego and is composed of the qualities of the elements, is known as the third creation, called the egoic creation.
O king, the great elements that have arisen from the mind are called the fourth creation, known as the mental creation.
The thinkers on elements declare that sound, touch, form, taste, and likewise smell constitute the fifth creation, which is material in nature.
The ear, skin, eye, tongue, and nose are the five senses; the sixth creation, they say, is remembered as being of the nature of much thought.
O king, below, the group of auditory senses arises. This is called the seventh creation, known as the sensory creation.
O king, the wise say that the eighth creation, which arises upward and across, is called the creation of straightforwardness.
O king, the wise say that the ninth creation, which arises with a horizontal and downward current, is called the creation of honesty.
O king, these nine creations and principles, twenty-four in total, have been stated as per the Veda and by illustration.
O great king, from this point onward, listen to the true nature of this quality and the reckoning of time as declared by the great souls, as I explain it to you.
