Shloka 61

Dasyu-maryādā and Buddhi-guided Rāja-nīti (दस्युमर्यादा तथा बुद्धिप्रधान-राजनीति)

Devanagari script

वधबन्धभयादेते मोक्षतन्त्रमुपाश्रिता: । जनीमरण-जं दुःखं प्राहुरवेंदविदो जना:,इस वध और बन्धनके भयसे ही मुमुक्षुलोग मोक्ष-शास्त्रका आश्रय लेकर रहते हैं; क्योंकि वेदवेत्ता पुरुषोंका कहना है कि जन्म और मरणका दुःख असहा होता है

Transliteration

vadhabandhabhayād ete mokṣatantram upāśritāḥ | janī-maraṇa-jaṁ duḥkhaṁ prāhur avedavido janāḥ ||

Translation

Brahmadatta said: ‘It is from fear of being slain and bound that these people take refuge in the discipline of liberation. For those who truly know the Veda declare that the suffering born of repeated birth and death is unbearable.’

Word by Word

वधfrom killing

बन्धfrom bondage

भयात्from fear

एतेthese (people)

मोक्षतन्त्रम्the doctrine/treatise of liberation

उपाश्रिताःhaving resorted to / taking refuge in

जनीमरणजम्arising from birth and death

दुःखम्sorrow, suffering

प्राहुःthey say / have said

अवेन्दविदःknowers of the Veda (learned men)

जनाःpeople

Speaker

ब्रह्मदत्त उवाच

Characters & Entities

Brahmadatta

Veda (as authoritative tradition)

mokṣa-tantra (teaching/system of liberation)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse explains that the impulse toward mokṣa often begins with immediate fears—death and captivity—but is validated by a deeper insight: Veda-knowers affirm that saṁsāra itself, the cycle of birth and death, is intrinsically painful and ultimately intolerable, so liberation is a rational and ethical aim.

What is happening in the narrative?

Brahmadatta is commenting on why people turn to liberation-teachings: not merely from abstract philosophy, but because worldly threats (being killed or bound) awaken dispassion; he then grounds this turn toward mokṣa in the testimony of authoritative Vedic sages.