Shloka 71
देवतापितृप्रश्नः — Nārada at Badarīāśrama: the ultimate referent of daiva and pitṛ worship
निबन्धनी रज्जुरेषा या ग्रामे वसतो रति: । छित्त्वैतां सुकृतो यान्ति नैनां छिन्दन्ति दुष्कृत:,मनुष्य जब गाँवमें रहकर वहींके पदार्थोंसे प्रेम करने लगता है, वह उसे बाँधनेवाली रस्सी ही है। पुण्यात्मा लोग इसे काटकर उत्तम लोकोंमें चले जाते हैं, परंतु पापात्मा पुरुष इसे नहीं काट पाते हैं
nibandhanī rajjur eṣā yā grāme vasato ratiḥ | chittvaitāṃ sukṛto yānti naināṃ chindanti duṣkṛtaḥ ||
Vyāsa said: “This is the binding rope: the attachment that arises in one who lives in a village and grows fond of the very things found there. The virtuous cut this rope and depart to higher realms; the sinful, however, do not succeed in cutting it.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Attachment to one’s immediate worldly environment—symbolized by ‘the village’ and its objects—functions like a rope that binds the soul. Ethical purity and disciplined living enable one to cut this bond and attain higher states, whereas wrongdoing and indulgence keep one unable to sever attachment.
In the didactic discourse of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa delivers a moral-metaphysical instruction using a simple metaphor: people living in ordinary social life become bound by affection for local possessions and pleasures; the virtuous transcend this attachment, while the sinful remain entangled.