Shloka 13
Sanatsujāta–Dhṛtarāṣṭra Saṃvāda: Pramāda as Mṛtyu
Chapter 42
तपोमूलमिदं सर्व यन्मां पृच्छसि क्षत्रिय । तपसा वेददविद्वांस: परं त्वमृतमाप्तुयु:
tapo-mūlam idaṁ sarvaṁ yan māṁ pṛcchasi kṣatriya | tapasā veda-vidvāṁsaḥ paraṁ tv amṛtam āptuyuḥ ||
Sanatsujāta said: “O Kṣatriya, what you ask me about has austerity (tapas) as its very root; indeed, austerity is the foundation of all this. By such tapas, the knowers of the Veda—true sages—attain the supreme ‘deathless’ state, the highest liberation.”
सनत्युजात उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sanatsujāta teaches that tapas—disciplined self-restraint and spiritual effort—is the foundational means for the highest good; through such tapas, true Veda-knowers attain the supreme deathless state (amṛta), i.e., liberation.
In the Sanatsujātīya dialogue within Udyoga Parva, Sanatsujāta responds to the king’s inquiry about the highest truth and the way beyond death, emphasizing tapas as the root-principle leading to mokṣa.