Shloka 53
Sanatsujāta–Dhṛtarāṣṭra Saṃvāda: Pramāda as Mṛtyu
Chapter 42
राजन! वास्तवमें वेदके तत्त्वको जाननेवाला कोई नहीं है अथवा यों समझो कि कोई बिरला ही उनका रहस्य जान पाता है। जो केवल वेदके वाक्योंको जानता है, वह वेदोंके द्वारा जाननेयोग्य परमात्माको नहीं जानता; किंतु जो सत्यमें स्थित है, वह वेददवेद्य परमात्माको जानता है ।।
rājan! vāstavam eva vedasya tattvaṃ jñātā kaścid nāsti, athavā evaṃ manyasva—kaścid virala eva tad-rahasyaṃ jānāti. yaḥ kevalaṃ veda-vākyāni jānāti sa vedair veditavyaṃ paramātmānaṃ na jānāti; kintu yaḥ satye tiṣṭhati sa veda-avedyaṃ paramātmānaṃ jānāti. || na vedānāṃ veditā kaścid asti; vedyena vedaṃ na vidur na vedyam | yo veda vedaṃ sa ca veda vedyam; yo veda vedyam na sa veda satyam ||
Sanatsujāta said: “O King, in truth hardly anyone is a real knower of the Veda’s inner principle—only a rare person grasps its secret. One who merely knows the Vedic sentences does not thereby know the Supreme Self who is to be known through the Vedas. But one who stands established in Truth knows that Supreme Self, who is beyond the reach of ordinary ‘knowable’ objects. Indeed, by what is ordinarily knowable one cannot know either the Veda’s essence or the One to be known. He who knows the Veda in its essence knows also the One it points to; but he who claims to know only the ‘object to be known’ does not know Truth.”
सनत्युजात उवाच
Educational Q&A
Mere verbal mastery of Vedic sentences is not the same as realizing the Supreme Self. The Veda’s purpose is fulfilled only when one is established in Truth; then the seeker understands both the Veda’s inner intent and the transcendent reality it indicates, which cannot be reduced to an ordinary ‘object of knowledge.’
In the Sanatsujātīya section of Udyoga Parva, the sage Sanatsujāta instructs the king (Dhṛtarāṣṭra) on spiritual knowledge and liberation. Here he critiques superficial scholarship and redirects the king toward inner realization—abiding in satya—as the true way to ‘know’ what the Veda ultimately points to.