Shloka 12
अरण्यवृत्ति-वैराग्योपदेशः | Forest Discipline and the Program of Non-Attachment
अथवैको5हमेकाहमेकैकस्मिन् वनस्पतौ । चरन् भैक्ष्यं मुनिर्मुण्ड: क्षपयिष्ये कलेवरम्,अथवा मैं मूँड़ मुड़ाकर मननशील संन्यासी हो जाऊँगा और एक-एक दिन एक-एक वृक्षसे भिक्षा माँगकर अपने शरीरको सुखाता रहूँगा
athavaiko’ham ekāham ekaikasmin vanaspatau | caran bhaikṣyaṃ munir muṇḍaḥ kṣapayīṣye kalevaram ||
Or else I shall live alone—spending a single day at a time by a single tree—wandering as a shaven-headed, contemplative ascetic, begging for alms, and thus wearing away this body. In this resolve, Yudhiṣṭhira expresses a turn from royal life toward renunciation, seeking expiation and inner peace through austerity rather than power.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a dharmic response to moral anguish: when worldly authority feels tainted by violence and loss, one may seek purification through restraint, simplicity, and non-attachment—symbolized by mendicancy, solitude, and acceptance of bodily hardship.
Yudhiṣṭhira, burdened by the aftermath of war, voices an alternative to ruling: he considers becoming a wandering ascetic, living day by day under different trees, begging for food, and gradually exhausting the body through austere living.