Shloka 18
भिक्षुलक्षणम्—एकचर्याः, अहिंसा, कैवल्याश्रमः
Marks of the Mendicant: Solitary Wandering, Non-Injury, and the Kaivalya-Discipline
वेदज्ञानि द्वयान्याहु: प्रवक्तूणीतराणि च । प्रवक्तृणि विशिष्टानि सर्वधर्मोपधारणात्
vedajñānī dvayāny āhuḥ pravaktṝṇy itarāṇi ca | pravaktṝṇi viśiṣṭāni sarvadharmopadhāraṇāt ||
Vyāsa said: “Those who know the Veda are said to be of two kinds—those who teach it and those who do not. Among them, the teachers are superior, because they uphold and carry within themselves the whole range of dharmas taught in the Veda.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vedic learning is not merely private knowledge; the one who can expound and transmit it is considered superior because teaching requires embodying and sustaining the full ethical and ritual framework (sarva-dharma) that the Veda enjoins.
In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa classifies Veda-knowers into two groups—expounders and non-expounders—and argues for the higher standing of the expounder, emphasizing the social and ethical responsibility of preserving dharma through instruction.