Shloka 1
Akṣara–Kṣara Viveka: Vasiṣṭha–Karāla-Janaka Saṃvāda (अक्षर-क्षर विवेकः)
अकाल एकनवत्यथिकद्विशततमो< ध्याय: पराशरगीता--कर्मफलकी अनिवार्यता तथा पुण्यकर्मसे लाभ पराशर उवाच मनोरथरयथं प्राप्य इन्द्रियाख्यहयं नर: । रश्मिभिज्ञानसम्भूतैयों गच्छति स बुद्धिमान्
parāśara uvāca | manorathaṃ yathā prāpya indriyākhyahayān naraḥ | raśmibhir jñānasambhūtair yo gacchati sa buddhimān ||
পরাশর বললেন—হে রাজন! ইন্দ্রিয়রূপ অশ্বে যুক্ত মনোময় রথই মানুষের (সূক্ষ্ম দেহ)। জ্ঞানজাত রশ্মি—অর্থাৎ লাগাম—দ্বারা তাকে সংযত করে যে অগ্রসর হয়, সেই-ই বুদ্ধিমান।
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Wisdom is defined as governing one’s life by knowledge: the senses are powerful like horses, but when they are directed by the reins of discriminative understanding, a person travels rightly rather than being carried away by impulse.
In the Śānti Parva’s Parāśara-gītā section, the sage Parāśara addresses a king and uses a chariot metaphor: the mind is the chariot, the senses are its horses, and knowledge functions as the reins by which a wise person guides his course.