Shloka 44
Adhyāya 287 — Janaka’s Inquiry on Śreyas, Abhayadāna, and Asaṅga
Non-attachment
यत्र संलोडिता लुब्धै: प्रायशो धर्मसेतव: । प्रदीप्तमिव चैलान्तं कस्तं देशं न संत्यजेत्,जहाँ लालची मनुष्योंने प्राय: धर्मकी मर्यादाएँ तोड़ डाली हों, जलते हुए कपड़ेकी भाँति उस देशको कौन नहीं त्याग देगा?
yatra saṁloḍitā lubdhaiḥ prāyaśo dharmasetavaḥ | pradīptam iva cailāntaṁ kastaṁ deśaṁ na santyajet ||
Wo Gierige zumeist die Grenzen und Schutzwehre des Dharma zerbrochen haben—wer würde ein solches Land nicht verlassen, wie ein Gewand, das bereits in Flammen steht und nur noch weggeworfen werden kann?
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
When greed becomes dominant and the protective limits of dharma are routinely violated, the society itself turns dangerous and morally “burning”; distancing oneself from such a place is presented as a sensible ethical choice.
Narada is offering counsel in the Shanti Parva’s didactic setting, using a vivid simile—an already-burning cloth—to describe a land where dharma’s safeguards have been broken by the greedy, implying that such a place should be abandoned.