Shloka 15

अज्ञान–लोभयोः परस्परहेतुत्वम्

Mutual Causality of Ignorance and Greed

Devanagari script

अत्राप्युदाहरन्तीमा गाथा: सत्यवता कृता: । यथा कुमार: सत्यो वै नैव पुण्यो न पापकृत्‌

Transliteration

atrāpy udāharantīmā gāthāḥ satyavatā kṛtāḥ | yathā kumāraḥ satyo vai naiva puṇyo na pāpakṛt ||

Translation

এ বিষয়েও সত্যবান রচিত এই গাথাগুলি উদাহরণ হিসেবে বলা হয়—যেমন একটি বালক যুদ্ধ ও দ্বেষের প্রবৃত্তি থেকে মুক্ত থাকায় স্বভাবতই সত্যনিষ্ঠ; সে ইচ্ছাকৃতভাবে না পুণ্য সঞ্চয় করে, না পাপ করে। তেমনই প্রত্যেক মহৎ পুরুষেরও সত্যে প্রতিষ্ঠিত ও বৈরভাবমুক্ত থাকা উচিত।

Word by Word

• {'atra api': 'here also

• in this matter too', 'udāharanti': 'they cite

• they adduce as an example', 'imāḥ': 'these', 'gāthāḥ': 'verses

• didactic stanzas', 'satyavatā': 'by Satyavān (instrumental singular)', 'kṛtāḥ': 'made

• composed', 'yathā': 'just as', 'kumāraḥ': 'a boy

• a youth', 'satyaḥ': 'truthful

• devoted to truth', 'vai': 'indeed

• certainly (emphatic particle)', 'na eva': 'not at all', 'puṇyaḥ': 'meritorious (one who performs merit)', 'na pāpakṛt': 'nor a doer of sin

Speaker

शौनक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śaunaka
• Satyavān
• kumāra (a boy/youth)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Truthfulness that is free from hostility and harmful intent is presented as an ideal: like a child who is naturally guileless, the noble person should remain established in truth and avoid deliberate sin, not being driven by aggressive passions.

What is happening in the narrative?

Śaunaka introduces an illustrative citation: he points to didactic stanzas attributed to Satyavān, using the example of a child’s natural truthfulness to explain a moral point about the conduct of the श्रेष्ठ (noble) person.