Shloka 63

तृष्णाक्षय-उपदेशः

Instruction on the Cessation of Craving

Devanagari script

शक्‍्यं त्वेकेन युक्तेन कृतकृत्येन सर्वश: । पिण्डमात्र व्यपाश्रित्य चरितुं विजितात्मना,जो आपके समान एकाकी, योगयुक्त, कृतकृत्य और मनपर विजय पानेवाला है तथा जो केवल शरीरका अथवा उसकी रक्षाके लिये स्वल्प भिक्षान्नमात्रका सहारा लेकर सम्पूर्ण दिशाओंमें विचरण कर सकता है, जिसने न्यायशास्त्रका परित्याग कर दिया है तथा जो सम्पूर्ण संसारको नाशवान्‌ होनेके कारण गर्हित समझता है, ऐसा पुरुष ही वेद-वाक्योंका आश्रय लेकर "मोक्ष है' यह साधिकार कह सकता है

Transliteration

śakyaṁ tv ekena yuktena kṛtakṛtyena sarvaśaḥ | piṇḍamātra-vyapāśritya carituṁ vijitātmanā ||

Translation

Kapila said: It is indeed possible for a solitary person—disciplined in yoga, having fulfilled life’s aims, and having conquered the mind—to wander freely in every direction, relying only on the bare minimum of alms for the body’s maintenance. Such a one, having set aside contentious legalistic disputation and seeing the whole world as perishable and therefore not worth clinging to, alone is truly entitled to invoke the Vedic word and affirm with authority: “There is liberation.”

Word by Word

शक्यम्possible, feasible

तुbut, however

एकेनby/with one (person)

युक्तेनjoined, disciplined, endowed (with yoga)

कृतकृत्येनone who has accomplished what is to be done

सर्वशःin every way, entirely

पिण्डमात्रम्only a lump (i.e., mere body / mere morsel)

व्यपाश्रित्यhaving resorted to, relying upon

चरितुम्to wander, to move about

विजितात्मनाby one who has conquered the self (mind)

Speaker

कपिल उवाच

Characters & Entities

Kapila

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Only a truly disciplined renunciant—self-controlled, content with minimal sustenance, and detached from the perishable world—has the moral and spiritual authority to speak of moksha on the basis of the Veda.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Kapila’s discourse within the Śānti Parva, he describes the qualifications of a genuine seeker: solitary wandering, yogic discipline, minimal dependence on food, and dispassion toward worldly systems and transient existence, culminating in a rightful affirmation of liberation.