Shloka 27
Daṇḍa as the Foundation of Social Order (दण्डप्रतिष्ठा)
ग्रामान् निष्क्रम्य मुनयो विगतक्रोधमत्सरा: । वने कुट॒म्बधर्माणो दृश्यन्ते परिमोहिता:,कितने ही मुनि क्रोध और ईरष्यासे रहित हो गाँवसे निकलकर वनमें चले जाते हैं, और वहीं मोहवश गृहस्थधर्ममें अनुरक्त दिखायी देते हैं
grāmān niṣkramya munayo vigata-krodha-matsarāḥ | vane kuṭumba-dharmāṇo dṛśyante parimohitāḥ ||
Arjuna said: “Many sages, free from anger and envy, leave the villages and go out into the forest; yet there, deluded, they are seen clinging to the ways of household life.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
External renunciation—leaving society for the forest—does not by itself ensure inner freedom. Even those who have abandoned anger and envy may still fall into moha (delusion) and reproduce household attachments; true dharma requires inner clarity and detachment, not merely a change of location.
Arjuna raises a pointed observation: sages who depart from villages for forest life are expected to live as renunciants, yet he sees some behaving as if bound to household duties. His question sets up a discussion on the difference between genuine renunciation and attachment disguised as ascetic life.