Mahabharata — Shanti Parva, Shloka 33
अव्यक्त-मानस-सृष्टिवादः
Doctrine of Creation from the Unmanifest ‘Mānasa’
ये च मूढतमा लोके ये च बुद्धेः परं गता: । ते नरा: सुखमेधन्ते क्लिश्यत्यन्तरितो जन:,इस संसारमें जो अत्यन्त मूढ़ हैं और जो बुद्धिसे परे पहुँच गये हैं, वे ही मनुष्य सुखी हैं। बीचके सभी लोग कष्ट भोगते हैं
ye ca mūḍhatamā loke ye ca buddheḥ paraṃ gatāḥ | te narāḥ sukham edhante kliśyaty antarito janaḥ ||
The Brāhmaṇa said: In this world, those who are utterly deluded, and those who have gone beyond the reach of ordinary intellect, alone flourish in happiness. The people who stand in between—neither ignorant nor transcendent—are the ones who suffer, troubled by inner conflict and striving.
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Happiness tends to belong to two extremes: (1) those sunk in ignorance who do not perceive moral or existential complexity, and (2) those who have transcended ordinary intellect through higher realization. Those in the middle—aware enough to be troubled but not yet liberated—experience the most distress.
Within the didactic discourse of the Śānti Parva, a Brāhmaṇa speaker offers a reflective observation about human suffering and contentment, contrasting the carefree ignorance of the deluded with the peace of the spiritually transcendent, while describing the inner strain of ordinary people caught between these states.