Shloka 1
Akṣara–Kṣara Viveka: Vasiṣṭha–Karāla-Janaka Saṃvāda (अक्षर-क्षर विवेकः)
अकाल एकनवत्यथिकद्विशततमो< ध्याय: पराशरगीता--कर्मफलकी अनिवार्यता तथा पुण्यकर्मसे लाभ पराशर उवाच मनोरथरयथं प्राप्य इन्द्रियाख्यहयं नर: । रश्मिभिज्ञानसम्भूतैयों गच्छति स बुद्धिमान्
parāśara uvāca | manorathaṃ yathā prāpya indriyākhyahayān naraḥ | raśmibhir jñānasambhūtair yo gacchati sa buddhimān ||
Parāśara said: O King, the mind-made subtle body is a chariot yoked with horses called the senses. The reins of those horses are the movements born of knowledge. He who, furnished with these means, rides that chariot and journeys onward is truly wise.
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Wisdom is defined as governing one’s life by knowledge: the senses are powerful like horses, but when they are directed by the reins of discriminative understanding, a person travels rightly rather than being carried away by impulse.
In the Śānti Parva’s Parāśara-gītā section, the sage Parāśara addresses a king and uses a chariot metaphor: the mind is the chariot, the senses are its horses, and knowledge functions as the reins by which a wise person guides his course.