Shloka 4
कामबन्धन-निवृत्ति तथा शान्तिलक्षण-उपदेशः | Release from Desire-Bondage and the Marks of Peace
गृहस्थ ब्राह्मणके लिये विद्वानोंने चार प्रकारकी आजीविका बतायी है--कोठेभर अनाजका संग्रह करके रखना, यह पहली जीविकावृत्ति है। कुंडेभर अन्नका संग्रह करना, यह दूसरी वृत्ति है तथा उतने ही अन्नका संग्रह करना जो दूसरे दिनके लिये शेष न रहे, यह तीसरी वृत्ति है। अथवा “कापोतीवृत्ति” (उज्छवृत्ति) का आश्रय लेकर जीवन-निर्वाह करे, यह चौथी वृत्ति है। इन चारोंमें पहलीकी अपेक्षा दूसरी-दूसरी वृत्ति श्रेष्ठ है। अन्तिम वृत्तिका आश्रय लेनेवाला धर्मकी दृष्टिसे सर्वश्रेष्ठ है और वही सबसे बढ़कर धर्मविजयी है ।। षट््कर्मा वर्तयत्येकस्त्रिभिरन्य: प्रवर्तते । द्वाभ्यामेकश्नतुर्थस्तु ब्रह्मसत्रे व्यवस्थित:,पहली श्रेणीके अनुसार जीविका चलानेवाले ब्राह्मणको यजन-याजन, अध्ययन- अध्यापन तथा दान और प्रतिग्रह--ये छ: कर्म करने चाहिये। दूसरी श्रेणीवालेको अध्ययन, यजन और दान--इन तीन कर्मोमें ही प्रवृत्त होना चाहिये। तीसरी श्रेणीवालेको अध्ययन और दान-ये दो ही कर्म करने चाहिये तथा चौथी श्रेणीवालेको केवल ब्रह्मयज्ञ (वेदाध्ययन) करना उचित है
vyāsa uvāca | ṣaṭkarmā vartayaty ekaḥ tribhir anyaḥ pravartate | dvābhyām ekaś caturthas tu brahmasatre vyavasthitaḥ ||
Vyāsa said: Among householding brāhmaṇas, the learned describe four modes of livelihood, graded by increasing purity and restraint: (1) maintaining a full store of grain, (2) keeping a smaller reserve, (3) living with only what leaves nothing over for the next day, and (4) sustaining oneself by the ‘pigeon-like’ gleaning mode (uñchavṛtti), taking only what is freely available without accumulation. In this hierarchy, each successive mode is ethically superior to the previous; the one who lives by the final mode is regarded as foremost in dharma and the most victorious in righteousness. Correspondingly, one brāhmaṇa may engage in all six traditional duties; another confines himself to three; another to two; while the fourth remains established in the ‘brahma-sacrifice’—the disciplined offering of oneself through Vedic study.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ethical excellence for a householder brāhmaṇa is measured by restraint in livelihood and reduced dependence on acquisition: the less one hoards and the more one lives without burdening others, the higher the dharmic standing. This ethical gradation is mirrored in a graded restriction of professional duties—from all six brāhmaṇical functions down to the single-minded discipline of Vedic study as a ‘brahma-sacrifice’.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma after the war, Vyāsa lays out a normative classification of brāhmaṇa householders by how they sustain themselves and which duties they should undertake. The verse summarizes the fourfold gradation by stating that one performs six duties, another three, another two, and the fourth remains established in brahma-satra (the continuous offering of study).