Shloka 13
Bhūta-guṇa-saṃkhyāna
Enumeration of the Properties of the Elements and Cognitive Faculties
एवं स्वभावमेवेदमिति विद्वान् न मुहृति । अशोचचन्नप्रहृष्यन् हि नित्यं विगतमत्सर:
evaṁ svabhāvam evedam iti vidvān na muhṛti | aśocan na prahṛṣyan hi nityaṁ vigata-matsaraḥ ||
Knowing, “This world is truly of such a nature—ever subject to change,” the wise person is not deluded even for a moment. He neither grieves nor exults; ever free from envy and malice, he remains inwardly steady amid the world’s transformations.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches equanimity grounded in insight: since change is the world’s inherent nature (svabhāva), the wise do not fall into delusion, nor swing between grief and elation; they cultivate freedom from envy and hostility as a stable ethical disposition.
Vyāsa is instructing on the marks of a truly wise person in the Śānti Parva’s discourse on peace and right conduct: he describes the inner stance of the knower—unconfused by worldly change, emotionally balanced, and purified of envy.