Shloka 26
अव्यक्त-मानस-सृष्टिवादः
Doctrine of Creation from the Unmanifest ‘Mānasa’
पुत्रदारकुट॒म्बेषु प्रसक्ता: सर्वमानवा: । शोकपड्कार्णवे मरना जीर्णा वनगजा इव,स्त्री, पुत्र और कुट॒ुम्बमें आसक्त हुए सभी मनुष्य उसी प्रकार शोकके समुद्रमें डूब जाते हैं जैसे बूढ़े जंगली हाथी दलदलमें फँसकर नष्ट हो जाते हैं
putradārakuṭumbeṣu prasaktāḥ sarvamānavāḥ | śokapaṅkārṇave magnā jīrṇā vanagajā iva ||
Der Brāhmaṇa sprach: Alle Menschen, die an Frau, Kindern und Hausstand hängen, versinken im schlammgleichen Ozean der Trauer—wie gealterte wilde Elefanten, die im Sumpf gefangen zugrunde gehen. Der Vers warnt: Wird Familienidentität zum Letzten erklärt, wird Anhaftung zur Ursache von Bindung und Leid statt zur Stütze des Dharma.
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Excessive attachment to wife, children, and household—when it becomes clinging—leads to entanglement in sorrow. The verse urges cultivating discernment and detachment so that one lives with family responsibly under dharma, without being bound by possessiveness and fear of loss.
A Brāhmaṇa speaker delivers an instructive simile: humans absorbed in family-attachments are compared to old wild elephants that get stuck in a swamp and die. The image functions as a moral warning within Śānti Parva’s broader instruction on peace, self-mastery, and liberation-oriented wisdom.