Shloka 15
अव्यक्तकालमान-निर्णयः
Measures of Time from the Unmanifest; Creation, Elements, and the Primacy of Mind
जो वाणीका वेग, मन और क्रोधका वेग, तृष्णाका वेग तथा पेट और जननेन्द्रियका वेग --इन सब प्रचण्ड वेगोंको सह लेता है, उसीको मैं ब्रह्मवेत्ता और मुनि मानता हूँ ।।
haṁsa uvāca | yo vāṇī-vegaṁ manaḥ-vegaṁ krodha-vegaṁ tṛṣṇā-vegaṁ tathā udara-vegaṁ jananendriya-vegaṁ ca—etān sarvān pracaṇḍa-vegān sahate, tam eva ahaṁ brahma-vettaṁ muniṁ ca manye || akrodhanaḥ krudhyatāṁ vai viśiṣṭaḥ, tathā titikṣur atitikṣoḥ viśiṣṭaḥ | amānuṣān mānuṣo vai viśiṣṭaḥ, tathā ajñānāj jñānavān (jñānavid) vai viśiṣṭaḥ ||
The Swan said: “He who can endure the fierce impulses—the urge of speech, the urge of the mind, the urge of anger, the urge of craving, and the urges of the belly and the generative organ—him alone I regard as a knower of Brahman and a true sage. Among those who are angry, the one who does not grow angry is superior; among the intolerant, the patient man is superior. Among non-human creatures, the human being is superior; and among the ignorant, the man of knowledge is superior.”
हंस उवाच
Educational Q&A
True spiritual knowledge is shown not by claims but by mastery over powerful inner urges—speech, mental restlessness, anger, craving, appetite, and sexuality. The verse ranks virtues: non-anger over anger, forbearance over intolerance, and knowledge over ignorance, presenting self-restraint and insight as marks of the brahmavid (knower of Brahman).
In Shanti Parva’s didactic setting, the speaker identified as Haṁsa (the Swan) delivers a moral-spiritual instruction. Rather than describing an external event, the passage functions as a teaching on the qualities that define a genuine sage and the ethical hierarchy of virtues.