Shloka 54
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
अजसं जन्मनिधनं चिन्तयित्वा त्रयीमिमाम् | परित्यज्य क्षयमिह अक्षयं धर्ममास्थित:
ajasaṃ janma-nidhanaṃ cintayitvā trayīm imām | parityajya kṣayam iha akṣayaṃ dharmam āsthitaḥ ||
Yājñavalkya sprach: In der Betrachtung, dass der Kreislauf von Geburt und Tod im Saṃsāra ohne Ende fortläuft, soll man erkennen, dass das vedische Ritualsystem (die Dreiheit der Veden und die vorgeschriebenen Riten) und seine Belohnungen vergänglich sind; darum löse man die Anhaftung an jene flüchtigen Ziele und nehme noch in diesem Leben Zuflucht zum unvergänglichen Dharma.
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Because birth and death continue without cessation, one should see ritual actions and their promised rewards as transient and instead commit oneself to the imperishable Dharma—an orientation toward lasting spiritual-ethical realization rather than perishable gains.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and liberation, the sage Yājñavalkya speaks as a teacher, urging a shift from reliance on Vedic ritualism aimed at finite results to the pursuit of an enduring, liberative Dharma grounded in insight into saṃsāra.