Shloka 3
Śānti-parva 168: Śoka-nivṛtti-buddhi (The Cognition that Reduces Grief) and Piṅgalā’s Nairāśya
कम्मिंश्षात्मा निधातव्यस्त्रिवर्गविजयाय वै । संहृष्टा नै्ठिकं वाक्यं यथावद् वक्तुमर्हथ
kasmiṁś cātmā nidhātavyas trivarga-vijayāya vai | saṁhṛṣṭā naiṣṭhikaṁ vākyaṁ yathāvad vaktum arhatha ||
এই তিনটির উপর জয়লাভ করতে বিশেষ করে কোনটিতে মন স্থির করা উচিত? তোমরা সকলে আনন্দিত ও দৃঢ় হয়ে এই প্রশ্নের যথার্থ উত্তর দাও—যে কথায় তোমাদের সম্পূর্ণ ও অচল বিশ্বাস, সেটিই বলো।
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an ethical inquiry: to master the three worldly aims (dharma, artha, kāma), one must fix the mind upon a chosen foundation, and the respondents are urged to speak a correct teaching grounded in firm personal conviction (naiṣṭhikī niṣṭhā).
Vaiśampāyana introduces a question being posed to a group of respondents: they are asked, with enthusiasm and seriousness, to declare what the mind should be anchored in to achieve mastery over the trivarga, and to answer in a properly reasoned and sincerely held way.