Shloka 33

जनक–सुलभा संवादः

Janaka–Sulabhā Dialogue on Mokṣa and Non-attachment

Devanagari script

न देयमेतच्च तथानृतात्मने शठाय क्लीबाय न जिद्दाबुद्धये । न पण्डितज्ञानपरोपतापिने देयं तु देयं च निबोध यादृशे

Transliteration

na deyam etac ca tathānṛtātmane śaṭhāya klībāya na jiddhābuddhaye | na paṇḍitajñānaparopatāpinae deyaṃ tu deyaṃ ca nibodha yādṛśe || asatyavādī, śaṭha, nīca, kapaṭī, āpne ko paṇḍit mānne-vāle aur dūsre ko kaṣṭa pahuṃcāne-vāle manuṣya ko bhī is kā upadeś nahīṃ denā cāhiye | kaise puruṣ ko is jñān kā upadeś denā aur avaśya denā cāhiye—yah bhī sun lo ||

Translation

قال فاسيشثا: «لا ينبغي أن يُعطى هذا التعليم لمن كانت سريرته كاذبة، ولا للمخادع، ولا لمن عجزت عزيمته، ولا لمن انحرف فهمه. ولا يُعطى لمن يتباهى بالعلم وهو يُوقع الأذى بالناس. ولكنه ينبغي أن يُعطى حقًّا—فاسمع الآن: أيُّ صنفٍ من الرجال يَصلح لتلقّيه.»

Word by Word

• {'na deyam': 'should not be given', 'etat': 'this (teaching/knowledge)', 'tathānṛta-ātmane': 'to one whose very self/nature is false

• one of false disposition', 'śaṭha': 'deceitful, crafty', 'klība': 'weak, unmanly in courage

• lacking firmness of will (contextual sense)', 'buddhi': 'intellect, understanding', 'jiddhā-buddhaye': 'to one with distorted/perverse understanding (reading uncertain in the printed form)', 'paṇḍita': 'learned person, scholar', 'jñāna': 'knowledge (here, liberating/ethical-spiritual instruction)', 'para-upatāpin': 'one who torments/harms others', 'deyam tu deyam': 'but it should be given—indeed it should be given', 'nibodha': 'understand

• listen attentively', 'yādṛśe': 'to what kind (of person)'}

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vasiṣṭha

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Sacred or liberating instruction should be transmitted with discernment: it is withheld from those who are deceitful, false, hypocritical, harmful to others, or lacking steadiness and right understanding; the teacher must consider the recipient’s character and ethical fitness.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, Vasiṣṭha lays down a rule for teaching: he lists unfit recipients of the doctrine and then signals that he will next describe the qualities of a worthy student to whom the knowledge should certainly be given.