Ārjava, Satya, and the Virocana–Sudhanvan Exemplum
Udyoga-parva 35
विदुर उवाच नान्यत्र विद्यातपसोनन्यत्रेन्द्रियनिग्रहात् नान्यत्र लोभसंत्यागाच्छान्तिं पश्यामि तेडनघ
vidura uvāca | nānyatra vidyā-tapaso nānyatrendriya-nigrahāt | nānyatra lobha-saṃtyāgāc chāntiṃ paśyāmi te 'nagha ||
Vidura sprach: „O schuldloser König, ich sehe für deinen Frieden kein anderes Mittel als Erkenntnis und geübte Askese, als Zügelung der Sinne und als Verzicht auf Gier.“
विदुर उवाच
Peace (śānti) is not achieved through external measures but through inner discipline: right knowledge (vidyā), austerity/self-discipline (tapas), restraint of the senses (indriya-nigraha), and especially the abandonment of greed (lobha-saṃtyāga).
In Udyoga Parva, Vidura offers moral counsel to a king amid rising political tension. Here he emphasizes that the ruler’s stability and peace depend on personal ethical reform—learning, self-restraint, and renouncing greed—rather than on force or stratagems.