Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154
चक्षुर््या न च कर्णाभ्यां संशृूणोति समीक्षते । कस्मादेनं समुत्सूज्य न गृहान् गच्छताशु वै,यह न तो आँखोंसे देखता है और न कानोंसे कुछ सुनता ही है। फिर इसे त्यागकर तुमलोग जल्दी अपने घर क्यों नहीं चले जाते
cakṣurbhyāṁ na ca karṇābhyāṁ saṁśṛṇoti samīkṣate | kasmād enaṁ samutsṛjya na gṛhān gacchatāśu vai ||
Jambuka sprach: „Er sieht nicht mit den Augen und hört nicht mit den Ohren. Warum also lasst ihr ihn nicht zurück und kehrt eilends in eure Häuser heim?“
जम्बुक उवाच
The verse frames an ethical provocation: if someone appears incapable of seeing or hearing, should others abandon him and return to their own concerns? In the Shanti Parva’s moral discourse, such a question typically tests the listener’s commitment to dharma—especially compassion and responsibility toward the vulnerable—rather than endorsing neglect.
Jambuka addresses a group (plural imperative ‘gacchata’) and points out that the person in question neither sees nor hears. He then challenges them: why not leave him and go home quickly? The line functions as a pointed rhetorical move within a broader ethical discussion, pressing the audience to respond with the dharmic course of action.