Shloka 12
Sanatsujāta–Dhṛtarāṣṭra Saṃvāda: Brahmacarya and the Formless Brahman
Udyoga Parva 44
सौहदे वै षड् गुणा वेदितव्या: प्रिये हृष्यन्त्यप्रिये च व्यथन्ते । स्यादात्मन: सुचिरं याचते यो ददात्ययाच्यमपि देयं खलु स्यात् । इष्टान् पुत्रान् विभवान् स्वांश्षदारा- नभ्यर्थितश्चा्हति शुद्धभाव:,सौहार्द (मित्रता)-के छः: गुण हैं, जो अवश्य ही जाननेयोग्य हैं। सुह्ृदका प्रिय होनेपर हर्षित होना और अप्रिय होनेपर कष्टका अनुभव करना--ये दो गुण हैं। तीसरा गुण यह है कि अपना जो कुछ चिरसंचित धन है, उसे मित्रके माँगनेपर दे डाले। मित्रके लिये अयाच्य वस्तु भी अवश्य देनेयोग्य हो जाती है और तो क्या, सुहृदके माँगनेपर वह शुद्धभावसे अपने प्रिय पुत्र, वैभव तथा पत्नीको भी उसके हितके लिये निछावर कर देता है
Sanatyajāta uvāca: sauhṛde vai ṣaḍ guṇā veditavyāḥ; priye hṛṣyanty apriye ca vyathante. syād ātmanaḥ suciraṁ yācate yo, dadāty ayācyam api deyaṁ khalu syāt. iṣṭān putrān vibhavān svāṁś ca dārān abhyarthitaś cāhati śuddhabhāvaḥ.
Sanatsujāta said: “In true friendship there are six qualities that must be understood. One rejoices when a friend meets with what is dear, and one feels pain when what is undesired befalls him—these are two. A third is this: when the friend asks, one gives even one’s long-hoarded wealth. Indeed, for a friend even what ought not be asked becomes something that should be given. And when entreated, a person of pure intent will, for the friend’s welfare, even sacrifice what is most cherished—sons, prosperity, and one’s own wife.”
सनत्युजात उवाच
Educational Q&A
True friendship is measured by empathetic solidarity and costly generosity: sharing joy and sorrow with the friend, and being willing to give—even what is normally unaskable—up to one’s most cherished possessions, when the friend’s welfare genuinely requires it.
In Udyoga Parva, Sanatyajāta delivers moral and spiritual instruction in a counsel-setting. Here he defines the marks of genuine friendship (sauhṛda), presenting them as ethical standards for conduct among allies and intimates during a tense political moment preceding war.