Shloka 22

Śāṇḍilī–Sumanā-saṃvāda: Sat-strī-samudācāra and Pati-dharma

Conduct of the Virtuous Wife

Devanagari script

सुखादेव परं दुःखं दुःखादप्यपरं सुखम्‌ । दृश्यते हि महाप्राज्ञ नियतं वै स्वभावत:

Transliteration

sukhād eva paraṃ duḥkhaṃ duḥkhād apy aparaṃ sukham | dṛśyate hi mahāprājña niyataṃ vai svabhāvataḥ ||

Translation

قال فياسا: «من اللذّة نفسها ينشأ حزنٌ أعظم، ومن الحزن أيضًا تنشأ سعادةٌ أخرى. وهذا يُرى حقًّا، يا عظيمَ الحكمة: فبحسب الطبيعة قد ثَبَتَ هذا التعاقب. إن من يتعلّق بلذّات الحواس يهبط من المتعة إلى عذابٍ شديد؛ أمّا من يحتمل المشقّة بالزهد والرياضة والانضباط، فيُرى أنه ينال السعادة من تلك المشقّة ذاتها.»

Word by Word

• {'sukhāt': 'from happiness/pleasure', 'eva': 'indeed

• precisely', 'paraṃ': 'higher

• further', 'duḥkham': 'sorrow

• suffering', 'duḥkhāt': 'from suffering', 'api': 'also

• even', 'aparam': 'other

• further', 'sukham': 'happiness

• well-being', 'dṛśyate': 'is seen

• is observed', 'hi': 'for

• indeed', 'mahāprājña': 'O great sage/wise one (vocative)', 'niyatam': 'fixed

• regular', 'vai': 'indeed (emphatic particle)', 'svabhāvataḥ': 'by nature

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyasa (Veda Vyasa)
• mahāprājña (addressed wise person)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Pleasure and pain are interlinked: attachment to sense-pleasures tends to culminate in suffering, while disciplined endurance of hardship (tapas, restraint) can mature into lasting well-being. The verse frames this as a regular pattern rooted in human nature (svabhāva).

What is happening in the narrative?

In Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction-focused discourse, Vyāsa addresses a ‘greatly wise’ listener and states an observed moral-psychological principle: the pursuit of indulgent pleasure often reverses into misery, whereas voluntary hardship undertaken for discipline and virtue can yield happiness.