Shloka 14
बहुत-से आर्य पुरुष इन्द्रियोंको उनके विषयोंसे रोककर अविवेकजनित अज्ञानका त्याग करके उत्तरमार्ग (देवयान)-के द्वारा त्यागी पुरुषोंके लोकोमें चले गये ।। दक्षिणेन तु पंथान॑ यं भास्वन्तं प्रचक्षते । एते क्रियावतां लोका ये श्मशानानि भेजिरे
dakṣiṇena tu panthānaṁ yaṁ bhāsvantaṁ pracakṣate | ete kriyavatāṁ lokā ye śmaśānāni bhejire ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Many noble men have restrained the senses from their objects, cast away the ignorance born of lack of discernment, and by the higher path (Devayāna) have gone to the worlds of renunciants. But there is also the southern path, which they describe as ‘luminous’: those are the worlds attained by people devoted to ritual action—those who, in the end, come to the realm of the cremation-ground (śmaśāna).”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts two orientations: renunciants who move beyond ignorance toward higher liberation-oriented realms, and ritualists whose merit leads to limited destinations still marked by mortality—symbolized by the cremation-ground. It cautions that mere ritual action, without inner wisdom, does not culminate in the highest end.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and the highest good, Yudhiṣṭhira raises a doctrinal contrast of ‘paths’ after death. He points to the southern path associated with ritual action and its finite fruits, setting it against the higher, renunciant trajectory discussed in the surrounding context.