Shloka 2
भिक्षुलक्षणम्—एकचर्याः, अहिंसा, कैवल्याश्रमः
Marks of the Mendicant: Solitary Wandering, Non-Injury, and the Kaivalya-Discipline
शुक उवाच कि तज्ज्ञानमथो विद्या यथा निस्तरते द्वयम् प्रवृत्तिलक्षणो धर्मो निवृत्तिरेति वा वद
śuka uvāca: ki taj jñānam atho vidyā yathā nistarate dvayam? pravṛtti-lakṣaṇo dharmo nivṛttir eti vā vada.
শুকে ক’লে—পিতাজী! কোন জ্ঞান বা বিদ্যাৰ দ্বাৰা মানুহে জন্ম-মৃত্যুৰ এই দ্বিবিধ বন্ধন অতিক্ৰম কৰে? কওক, সেয়া কি প্ৰবৃত্তিলক্ষণ ধৰ্ম, নে নিবৃত্তিৰ পথ?
शुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a central inquiry of Indian ethics and soteriology: which kind of wisdom truly liberates from saṃsāra (the cycle marked by birth and death)—the dharma of active engagement (pravṛtti) or the dharma of renunciation (nivṛtti). It sets up a discussion on the relative roles of action, duty, and withdrawal in attaining liberation.
Śuka, in dialogue with his father (traditionally Vyāsa), asks for clarification about the liberating knowledge. He requests a decisive explanation of whether the path to transcend birth and death is primarily through worldly duty and action-oriented dharma or through renunciant withdrawal.