Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 115
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
न स्तम्भी न च मानी स्याज्नाप्रसन्नो न विस्मित: । मित्रामित्रसमो मैत्रो यः स धर्मविदुत्तम:
na stambhī na ca mānī syāj jñāprasanno na vismitaḥ | mitrāmitra-samo maitraḥ yaḥ sa dharma-vid uttamaḥ ||
Maheshvara said: One should be neither arrogant nor self-conceited; neither smug with one’s knowledge nor given to astonished self-display. He who remains even-minded toward friend and foe, and yet is truly friendly in disposition—such a person is the highest knower of dharma.
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The highest understanding of dharma is shown through inner discipline: freedom from arrogance and vanity, no smugness about one’s learning, and steady impartiality toward friend and foe combined with genuine goodwill.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Śrīmaheśvara is presented as instructing on righteous conduct. This verse defines the marks of an exemplary dharma-knower by listing the attitudes he avoids and the balanced, benevolent stance he maintains.