Shloka 16
Utkramaṇa-sthāna and Ariṣṭa-lakṣaṇa: Yājñavalkya’s Instruction on Departure Pathways and Mortality Signs
ऐसा पुरुष पूछनेपर तत्वज्ञानपूर्वक ग्रन्थके अर्थकों जैसा समझता है, वैसा दूसरोंको भी बता सकता है ।। न य: संसत्सु कथयेद् ग्रन्थार्थ स्थूलबुद्धिमान् । स कथं मन्दविज्ञानो ग्रन्थं वक्ष्यति निर्णयात्,जो स्थूल एवं मन्दबुद्धिसे युक्त होनेके कारण विद्वानोंकी सभामें शास्त्रग्रन्थका अर्थ नहीं बता सकता, वह निर्णयपूर्वक उस ग्रन्थका तात्पर्य कैसे कह सकता है?
na yaḥ saṃsatsu kathayed granthārthaṃ sthūlabuddhimān | sa kathaṃ mandavijñāno granthaṃ vakṣyati nirṇayāt ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “Only one who has understood a text’s meaning through true knowledge of tattva can, when questioned, convey it rightly to others. But if a person, being coarse-minded and dull of understanding, cannot explain a śāstric text’s meaning in an assembly of the learned, how could such a one—of scant insight—ever state with settled certainty that text’s tātparya, its final purport?”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Competent teaching requires true understanding: if someone cannot explain a text’s meaning among the learned, they cannot credibly claim to present its definitive purport. Authority in exposition rests on discernment and verified comprehension, not mere speech.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing his listener about the standards for interpreting and teaching śāstra. He contrasts genuine, knowledge-grounded exposition with shallow, uncertain talk, emphasizing that decisive interpretation (nirṇaya) belongs to the truly discerning.