Shloka 15

अध्याय २८६ — पराशर-उपदेशः

Ethical Restraint, Mortality, and Karma

Devanagari script

न बान्धवा न च वित्त न कौल्यं नच श्रुतं न च मन्त्रा न वीर्यम्‌ । दुःखात्‌ त्रातुं सर्व एवोत्सहन्ते परत्र शीलेन तु यान्ति शान्तिम्‌,बन्धु-बान्धव, धन, उत्तम कुल, शास्त्राध्ययन, मन्त्र तथा पराक्रम--ये सब-के-सब मिलकर भी किसीको दुःखसे छुटकारा नहीं दिला सकते हैं। परलोकमें मनुष्य उत्तम स्वभावके कारण ही शान्ति पाते हैं

Transliteration

samaḍa uvāca | na bāndhavā na ca vittaṁ na kaulyaṁ na ca śrutaṁ na ca mantrā na vīryam | duḥkhāt trātuṁ sarva evotsahante paratra śīlena tu yānti śāntim ||

Translation

Samaḍa sprach: Weder Verwandte noch Reichtum, weder edle Abstammung noch Gelehrsamkeit, weder Zaubersprüche noch selbst Tapferkeit — nichts davon, auch nicht alles zusammen, vermag einen Menschen wahrhaft vom Leiden zu erlösen. Im Jenseits erlangen die Menschen Frieden allein durch ihren Charakter und ihr Verhalten.

Word by Word

• {'bāndhava': 'kinsman, relative, one connected by family ties', 'vitta': 'wealth, property, material means', 'kaulya': 'noble birth, good lineage, family status', 'śruta': 'learning

• what is heard/learned, especially Vedic or scriptural knowledge', 'mantra': 'sacred formula

• ritual utterance', 'vīrya': 'valor, strength, heroic power', 'duḥkha': 'suffering, distress, pain', 'trātuṁ': 'to rescue, to save, to deliver', 'sarve': 'all (people/things) collectively', 'utsahante': 'are able/strive

• undertake (to do)', 'paratra': 'in the hereafter

• in the next world', 'śīla': 'character, moral disposition, habitual conduct', 'śānti': 'peace, tranquility, final calm'}

Speaker

समड़ उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Samaḍa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

External supports—family, money, status, learning, ritual power, and even strength—do not guarantee freedom from suffering; lasting peace, especially in the hereafter, is grounded in śīla (moral character and conduct).

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, the speaker Samaḍa delivers a moral reflection, contrasting worldly advantages with inner virtue, and asserting that true peace is attained through character rather than possessions or power.