Shloka 12
ज्ञानं संन्यासमित्येके स्वभावं भूतचिन्तका: । सर्वमेके प्रशंसन्ति न सर्वमिति चापरे,कई लोग कहते हैं कि ज्ञान ही संन्यास है। भौतिक विचारवाले मनुष्य स्वभावकी प्रशंसा करते हैं। कितने ही सभीकी प्रशंसा करते हैं और दूसरे सबकी प्रशंसा नहीं करते
jñānaṃ saṃnyāsam ity eke svabhāvaṃ bhūta-cintakāḥ | sarvam eke praśaṃsanti na sarvam iti cāpare ||
Vāyu said: “Some declare that true renunciation is nothing but knowledge. Those who are absorbed in thinking only of material elements extol ‘nature’ (svabhāva) as the ultimate cause. Some praise every path without distinction, while others insist that not everything deserves praise.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse maps a spectrum of philosophical positions: some equate renunciation with liberating knowledge; some explain life through svabhāva (natural/material causality); some approve all approaches, while others discriminate and deny that every view is equally praiseworthy. Ethically, it highlights the need to examine doctrines rather than accept them uncritically.
Vāyudeva is speaking and summarizing differing schools of thought about the highest path and the cause of action—knowledge-based renunciation, nature/material causation, and competing attitudes of universal approval versus selective critique.