Shloka 26
Sanatsujāta–Dhṛtarāṣṭra Saṃvāda: Pramāda as Mṛtyu
Chapter 42
दम अठारह गुणोंवाला है। (निम्नांकित अठारह दोषोंके त्यागको ही अठारह गुण समझना चाहिये)--कर्तव्य-अकर्तव्यके विषयमें विपरीत धारणा, असत्य-भाषण, गुणोंमें दोषदृष्टि, सत्रीविषयक कामना, सदा धनोपार्जनमें ही लगे रहना, भोगेच्छा, क्रोध, शोक, तृष्णा, लोभ, चुगली करनेकी आदत, डाह, हिंसा, संताप, शास्त्रमें अरति, कर्तव्यकी विस्मृति, अधिक बकवाद और अपनेको बड़ा समझना--इन दोषोंसे जो मुक्त है, उसीको सत्पुरुष दाना (जितेन्द्रिय) कहते हैं ।। मदोडष्टादशदोष: स्यात् त्यागो भवति षड्विध: । विपर्यया: स्मृता एते मददोषा उदाहृता:,मदमें अठारह दोष हैं; ऊपर जो दमके विपर्यय सूचित किये गये हैं, वे ही मदके दोष बताये गये हैं। त्याग छः: प्रकारका होता है, वह छहों प्रकारका त्याग अत्यन्त उत्तम है; किंतु इनमें तीसरा अर्थात् कामत्याग बहुत ही कठिन है, इसके द्वारा मनुष्य त्रिविध दुःखोंको निश्चय ही पार कर जाता है। कामका त्याग कर देनेपर सब कुछ जीत लिया जाता है
sanatyajāta uvāca | damo ’ṣṭādaśa-guṇavān bhavati | (aṣṭādaśa-doṣa-tyāga eva aṣṭādaśa-guṇatvena jñeyaḥ) — kartavyākartavya-viṣaye viparīta-dhāraṇā, asatya-bhāṣaṇam, guṇeṣu doṣa-dṛṣṭiḥ, strī-viṣayā kāmanā, sadā dhanopārjane eva lagna-bhāvaḥ, bhogecchā, krodhaḥ, śokaḥ, tṛṣṇā, lobhaḥ, paiśunyam, īrṣyā, hiṃsā, santāpaḥ, śāstre ’ratiḥ, kartavya-vismṛtiḥ, atipralāpaḥ, ātmānaṃ mahattvena manyamānatā — ebhir doṣair yo muktaḥ sa satpuruṣo dānta (jitendriya) ucyate || mado ’ṣṭādaśa-doṣaḥ syāt; tyāgo bhavati ṣaḍvidhaḥ | viparyayāḥ smṛtā ete mada-doṣā udāhṛtāḥ ||
Sanatjāta said: Self-restraint (dama) is said to consist of eighteen virtues—understood as the abandonment of eighteen faults: a perverse grasp of what ought and ought not to be done; speaking falsehood; seeing defects where there are virtues; craving for women; being perpetually absorbed only in acquiring wealth; desire for enjoyment; anger; grief; thirsting craving; greed; backbiting; envy; violence; inner burning and agitation; distaste for sacred teaching; forgetfulness of one’s duty; excessive talk; and self-conceit. One who is free from these faults is called a good man, ‘dānta’—one who has mastered the senses. Pride (mada) has eighteen faults: they are precisely the opposites of the forms of self-restraint just described. Renunciation is of six kinds, and all six are excellent; yet among them the third—renunciation of desire—is exceedingly difficult. By it a person surely crosses the threefold sufferings; when desire is renounced, everything is as though conquered.
सनत्युजात उवाच
Educational Q&A
Self-restraint is defined not as a single act but as freedom from eighteen specific moral and psychological faults—falsehood, anger, greed, envy, violence, excessive talk, and especially desire. Sanatyajāta further teaches that pride is simply the inversion of self-restraint, and that among forms of renunciation, giving up desire is the hardest yet most liberating, enabling one to cross the threefold sufferings.
In Udyoga Parva, Sanatyajāta delivers ethical and spiritual instruction as counsel in a tense pre-war setting. Here he defines the marks of a truly self-controlled person (dānta/jitendriya) by listing the faults to be abandoned, and he links this discipline to renunciation—highlighting desire-renunciation as the decisive inner victory.