Shloka 21
भिक्षुलक्षणम्—एकचर्याः, अहिंसा, कैवल्याश्रमः
Marks of the Mendicant: Solitary Wandering, Non-Injury, and the Kaivalya-Discipline
धर्मद्वयं हि यो वेद स सर्वज्ञ: स सर्ववित् । स त्यागी सत्यसंकल्प: सत्य: शुचिरथेश्वर:
dharmadvayaṃ hi yo veda sa sarvajñaḥ sa sarvavit | sa tyāgī satyasaṅkalpaḥ satyaḥ śucir atheśvaraḥ ||
Vyāsa said: “He who truly understands the twofold dharma—engagement in rightful action and the path of withdrawal—becomes all-knowing and fully discerning. Such a person is renouncing, firm in truthful resolve, truthful in speech and conduct, inwardly pure, and capable of rightful mastery.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Knowing both dimensions of dharma—pravṛtti (responsible engagement in action) and nivṛtti (withdrawal/renunciation oriented to liberation)—is presented as complete wisdom. This integrated understanding yields ethical excellence: renunciation without hypocrisy, truthfulness in intention and speech, inner purity, and the capacity for self-mastery.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Vyāsa states a criterion for true spiritual-ethical authority: the person who comprehends the two paths of dharma is described through a chain of virtues (omniscience/discernment, renunciation, truthful resolve, truthfulness, purity, and mastery), emphasizing the ideal knower as a moral exemplar.