Shloka 11
Vidyā–Avidyā and the Twenty-Fifth Principle
Sāṃkhya–Yoga Clarification
स्नेहायतननाशाच्च धननाशाच्च पार्थिव । आधिव्याधिप्रतापाच्च निर्वेदमुपगच्छति,पृथ्वीनाथ! संसारी जीवोंको तो जब उनके स्नेहके आधारभूत स्त्री-पुत्र आदिका नाश हो जाता, धन चला जाता और रोग तथा चिन्तासे कष्ट उठाना पड़ता है, तभी वैराग्य होता है
snehāyatananāśāc ca dhananāśāc ca pārthiva | ādhivyādhipratāpāc ca nirvedam upagacchati, pṛthvīnātha ||
Parāśara said: “O king, when a worldly person’s supports of affection—such as wife, children, and the like—are destroyed, when wealth is lost, and when he is scorched by anxiety and disease, then he comes to dispassion (nirveda).”
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dispassion (nirveda/vairāgya) in worldly people often arises not from insight alone but from the shock of suffering—loss of loved ones, loss of wealth, and the torment of anxiety and illness—revealing the instability of saṃsāra.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and liberation-oriented ethics, the sage Parāśara addresses a king and explains a common psychological pattern: people turn toward detachment when life’s attachments and securities collapse through bereavement, poverty, and affliction.