Shloka 12

भिक्षुलक्षणम्—एकचर्याः, अहिंसा, कैवल्याश्रमः

Marks of the Mendicant: Solitary Wandering, Non-Injury, and the Kaivalya-Discipline

Devanagari script

स्थावरेभ्यो विशिष्टानि जड़मान्युपधारयेत्‌ । उपपन्नं हि यच्चेष्टा विशिष्येत विशेष्यया

Transliteration

sthāvarebhyo viśiṣṭāni jaḍamāny upadhārayet | upapannaṃ hi yac ceṣṭā viśiṣyet viśeṣyayā ||

Translation

Vyāsa said: One should recognize that moving beings are superior to immobile ones. This is reasonable, for in them purposeful activity is distinctly observed; and by that distinguishing feature, their higher status is established of itself.

Word by Word

• {'sthāvarebhyaḥ': 'than immobile beings

• from the class of stationary entities', 'viśiṣṭāni': 'superior, distinguished, higher', 'jaḍamāni': 'inert things

• insentient entities (often contrasted with sentient life)', 'upadhārayet': 'one should consider, ascertain, understand', 'upapannam': 'reasonable, well-founded, logically established', 'hi': 'indeed, for', 'yat': 'because/that which', 'ceṣṭā': 'movement, activity, purposeful exertion', 'viśiṣyet': 'is distinguished, becomes superior', 'viśeṣyayā': 'by a distinguishing feature

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches a graded view of existence: beings capable of movement and purposeful activity (ceṣṭā) are to be regarded as superior to immobile entities, and this superiority is justified by observable distinguishing characteristics.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa states a rational criterion for ranking forms of existence, using the presence of activity/motion as evidence for the higher status of moving, living beings over stationary ones.