Shloka 84
अज्ञानतिमिरान्धस्य लोकस्य तु विचेष्टत: । ज्ञानाज्जनशलाकाभिर्नेत्रोन्मीलनकारकम्,संसारी जीव अज्ञानान्धकारसे अंधे होकर छटपटा रहे हैं। यह महाभारत ज्ञानांजनकी शलाका लगाकर उनकी आँख खोल देता है। वह शलाका क्या है? धर्म, अर्थ, काम और मोक्षरूप पुरुषार्थोका संक्षेप और विस्तारसे वर्णन। यह न केवल अज्ञानकी रतौंधी दूर करता, प्रत्युत सूर्यके समान उदित होकर मनुष्योंकी आँखके सामनेका सम्पूर्ण अन्धकार ही नष्ट कर देता है
ajñāna-timirāndhasya lokasya tu viceṣṭataḥ | jñānāñjana-śalākābhir netronmīlana-kārakam |
For a world blinded by the darkness of ignorance and struggling in confusion, the Mahābhārata functions as the instrument that opens the eyes—like a collyrium-tipped probe of knowledge. By setting forth the aims of human life—dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa—both in summary and in detail, it dispels the night-blindness of ignorance and, rising like the sun, destroys the darkness that stands before human sight.
Educational Q&A
The Mahābhārata is presented as a means of awakening: it removes ignorance by imparting clarifying knowledge, chiefly through its teaching on the four puruṣārthas—dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa—guiding ethical and purposeful living.
In the opening of the Ādi Parva, the text is being praised for its transformative role: it is likened to a medicinal instrument that opens the eyes of those blinded by ignorance, emphasizing the epic’s instructional purpose before the story unfolds.