Shloka 35
Sanatsujāta-Āhvāna (Summoning Sanatsujāta) — Vidura’s Invocation and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Doubt
को हानन्तरमात्मानं ब्राह्मणो हन्तुमरहति । निर्लिड्रमचलं शुद्ध सर्वद्वैतविवर्जितम्,इस प्रकार जो भेदशून्य, चिह्लरहित, अविचल, शुद्ध एवं सब प्रकारके द्वैतसे रहित आत्मा है, उसके स्वरूपको जाननेवाला कौन ब्रह्मवेत्ता पुछ्ण उसका हनन (अधःपतन) करना चाहेगा?
ko hānantaram ātmānaṃ brāhmaṇo hantum arhati | nirlīḍram acalaṃ śuddhaṃ sarvadvaitavivarjitam ||
Sanatsujāta said: Who among brahmins—one who truly knows—would ever wish to strike down (cause the fall of) the Self, which is without any mark or stain, unmoving, pure, and wholly free from all duality? The knower of that non-different Self has no impulse to harm it, for it is beyond injury and beyond the very notion of ‘otherness’ that makes violence conceivable.
सनत्युजात उवाच
Educational Q&A
The Self (Ātman) is pure, unmoving, and beyond all duality; therefore, for one who truly knows it, the very idea of harming or ‘bringing down’ the Self is incoherent. Self-knowledge dissolves the dualistic mindset that fuels violence and moral downfall.
In the Sanatsujātīya section of Udyoga Parva, Sanatsujāta instructs (in a philosophical-ethical register) about the nature of the Self and liberation. This verse argues that a true knower of the Self would not engage in actions rooted in ignorance—such as treating the Self as something that can be injured or degraded.