Shloka 23
जनक-राज्ञः मौण्ड्य-परिव्रज्या-विवादः
Janaka’s Renunciation Questioned; Discourse on Dāna and Detachment
श्रिया विहीनैरधनैस्त्यक्तमित्रैरकिंचनै: । सौखिकै: सम्भृतानर्थान् यः संत्यजति कि नु तत्,'श्रीहीन, निर्धन, मित्रोंद्वारा त्यागे हुए, अकिंचन एवं सुखकी अभिलाषा रखनेवाले लोगोंकी भाँति सब प्रकारसे परिपूर्ण राजलक्ष्मीका जो परित्याग करता है उससे उसे क्या लाभ?
śriyā vihīnair adhanais tyaktamitrair akiñcanaiḥ | saukhikaiḥ sambhṛtān arthān yaḥ saṃtyajati ki nu tat ||
Arjuna said: “If a man who is bereft of prosperity, poor, abandoned by friends, and possessing nothing gives up his possessions, what is remarkable in that? But one who, while fully endowed with royal fortune and every means of enjoyment, renounces such well-secured advantages—what, then, is the true gain he attains by that renunciation?”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Renunciation is ethically weightier when it is chosen despite having prosperity and secure means; giving up what one never truly had (or has already lost) is not the same as relinquishing real power, wealth, and comfort. The verse probes what genuine benefit or higher good is achieved by such voluntary renunciation.
Arjuna questions the value and purpose of renunciation by contrasting two cases: the destitute who ‘renounce’ out of lack, and the prosperous ruler who renounces despite fullness of royal fortune. He asks what special gain accrues to the latter, setting up a discussion on the fruits and meaning of true tyāga (renunciation).