Shloka 3
असंतोषादिदोष-निरूपणम्
On the Faults of Discontent and the Discipline of Detachment
य इमामखिलां भूमिं शिष्यादेको महीपति: । तस्याप्युदरमेकं वै किमिदं त्वं प्रशंससि
ya imām akhilāṁ bhūmiṁ śiṣyād eko mahīpatiḥ | tasyāpy udaram ekaṁ vai kim idaṁ tvaṁ praśaṁsasi ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Even if a single king were to rule this entire earth, he too would still have only one belly. So why do you praise kingship and dominion as though it were something great?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly dominion is ethically hollow when driven by craving: even an emperor’s bodily needs are limited, so limitless acquisition and praise of power are exposed as vanity. The verse points toward contentment (saṁtoṣa) and restraint as dharmic correctives to greed.
In the Śānti Parva’s reflective discourse on dharma and governance after the war, Yudhiṣṭhira questions the glorification of sovereignty. He challenges an interlocutor’s praise of royal power by using a stark, practical image—‘one belly’—to show that the ruler’s personal consumption does not justify vast conquest or attachment to rule.