Shloka 14
Āśramadharma and the Marks of the Muni
Yayāti–Aṣṭaka Saṃvāda
या दुस्त्यजा दुर्मतिभिर्या न जीर्य॑ति जीर्यत: । योडसौ प्राणान्तिको रोगस्तां तृष्णां त्यजत: सुखम्,“खोटी बुद्धिवाले लोगोंके लिये जिसका त्याग करना अत्यन्त कठिन है, जो मनुष्यके बूढ़े होनेपर भी स्वयं बूढ़ी नहीं होती तथा जो एक प्राणान्तक रोग है, उस तृष्णाको त्याग देनेवाले पुरुषको ही सुख मिलता है
yā dustyajā durmatibhir yā na jīryati jīryataḥ | yo ’sau prāṇāntiko rogās tāṃ tṛṣṇāṃ tyajataḥ sukham ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “That craving which is exceedingly hard for the misguided to abandon, which does not grow old even as a man grows old, and which is a life-ending disease—only for the person who casts off that thirst does true happiness arise.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Insatiable craving (tṛṣṇā) is portrayed as a fatal inner disease that does not diminish with age; genuine happiness belongs to the one who abandons it through discernment and self-restraint.
Vaiśaṃpāyana delivers a reflective, didactic statement within the Adi Parva’s discourse, emphasizing moral psychology: desire persists and destroys, while renouncing it is praised as the direct cause of well-being.