Mahabharata 3.201.110 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 201, Shloka 110
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
जीवात्मासे परित्यक्त होनेपर सारे शरीर काठ और दीवारकी भाँति जडवत् होकर महासागरमें उठे हुए फेनोंकी तरह नष्ट हो जाते हैं, इसमें संशय नहीं है ।।
jīvātmāse parityakte honepara sāre śarīra kāṭha aura dīvāra kī bhānti jaḍavat hokara mahāsāgarameṃ uṭhe hue phenōṃ kī taraha naṣṭa ho jāte haiṃ, isameṃ saṃśaya nahīṃ hai. ātmānaṃ vindate yena sarvabhūtaguhāśayam. ślokena yadi vārdhena kṣīṇaṃ tasya prayojanam. eka yā ādhe ślokase bhī yadi sampūrṇa bhūtoṃke hṛdayadeśameṃ śayana karanevāle paramātmākā jñāna ho jāya, to usake liye sampūrṇa śāstroṃke adhyayanakā prayojana samāpta ho jātā hai.
Yudhiṣṭhira sprach: „Wenn der individuelle Ātman weicht, wird der ganze Leib reglos wie Holz oder Mauer und vergeht wie Schaum, der sich auf dem großen Ozean erhebt — daran besteht kein Zweifel. Wenn aber einer, sei es auch nur durch einen Vers oder einen halben Vers, den höchsten Ātman erkennt, der verborgen in der Herzhöhle aller Wesen weilt, dann ist für ihn die praktische Notwendigkeit eines erschöpfenden Studiums aller Schriften erfüllt, weil er das Wesentliche erfasst hat.“
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The body is perishable and becomes inert when the jīvātman departs, but realizing the Paramātman dwelling in the heart of all beings is the essence; even a small teaching that yields this realization makes further study secondary in terms of ultimate purpose.
In the Vana Parva discourse setting, Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on mortality and the higher aim of knowledge, contrasting the body’s inevitable decay with the liberating insight of the indwelling Supreme Self.
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