Shloka 9
Aśoka-śāstra: Nārada’s Instruction on the Cessation of Śoka
Grief
यो5रुन्धतीं न पश्येत दृष्टपूर्वां कदाचन । तथैव ध्रुवमित्याहु: पूर्णेन्दुं दीपमेव च
yo 'rundhatīṁ na paśyet dṛṣṭapūrvāṁ kadācana | tathaiva dhruvam ity āhuḥ pūrṇenduṁ dīpam eva ca ||
Yājñavalkya sprach: „Wer Arundhatī niemals zuvor gesehen hat, wird sie nicht erkennen; ebenso nennt man etwas ‘fest’ oder ‘gewiss’, indem man auf vertraute Beispiele verweist — auf den Dhruva-Stern (den Polarstern), den Vollmond oder eine Lampe.“
याज्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Certainty and recognition depend on prior acquaintance and reliable exemplars: what is unfamiliar cannot be readily identified, so instruction often uses well-known standards (like Dhruva, the full moon, or a lamp) to convey ‘fixedness’ or clarity.
In a didactic passage of Śānti Parva, Yājñavalkya explains a point about knowledge and assurance by analogy: just as Arundhatī cannot be recognized by someone who has never seen her, so people establish conviction by referring to commonly recognized, stable or luminous examples.