Shloka 9
Nakula’s Counsel on Yajña, Dāna, and Tyāga (नकुलोपदेशः—यज्ञदानत्यागविचारः)
अनवेक्ष्य सुखादानं तथैवोर्ध्व प्रतिष्ठित: । आत्मत्यागी महाराज स त्यागी तामसो मतः,महाराज! जिसने गृहस्थ-आश्रमके सुखभोगोंको कभी नहीं देखा, फिर भी जो ऊपरवाले वानप्रस्थ आदि आश्रमोंमें प्रतेष्ठित होकर देहत्याग करता है, उसे तामस त्यागी माना गया है
anavekṣya sukhādānaṃ tathaivordhva-pratiṣṭhitaḥ | ātmatyāgī mahārāja sa tyāgī tāmaso mataḥ ||
Nakula said: “O great king, one who has never even experienced the rightful enjoyments and responsibilities of household life, yet establishes himself in the ‘higher’ stages such as forest-dwelling and then abandons the body—such a renouncer is regarded as a tāmasa (dark, deluded) renouncer.”
नकुल उवाच
Educational Q&A
Renunciation is not automatically virtuous: abandoning life or taking up ‘higher’ ascetic stages without first understanding and fulfilling appropriate duties (especially the disciplined, dharmic household stage) is judged as tāmasa—driven by confusion or escapism rather than clarity and righteousness.
Nakula addresses the king and classifies a certain kind of renouncer: someone who bypasses the lived experience and responsibilities of household life, adopts later āśramas, and then gives up the body; Nakula states that such ‘tyāga’ is considered tāmasa.