Shloka 31
ब्राह्मणानुयात्रा—शौनकोपदेशः
Brāhmaṇas Follow into Exile and Śaunaka’s Instruction
विप्रयोगे न तु त्यागी दोषदर्शी समागमे । विरागं भजते जनन््तुर्निर्विरो निरवग्रह:,“विषयोंके प्राप्त न होनेपर जो उनका त्याग करता है, वह त्यागी नहीं है; अपितु जो विषयोंके प्राप्त होनेपर भी उनमें दोष देखकर उनका परित्याग करता है, वस्तुतः वही त्यागी है--वही वैराग्यको प्राप्त होता है। उसके मनमें किसीके प्रति द्वेषभाव न होनेके कारण वह निर्वेर तथा बन्धनमुक्त होता है
viprayoge na tu tyāgī doṣadarśī samāgame | virāgaṃ bhajate jantur nirvairo niravagrahaḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “One is not truly a renunciant merely because, when separated from sense-objects, one ‘gives them up.’ The real renunciant is the one who, even when sense-objects are at hand, sees their faults and relinquishes attachment. Such a person attains dispassion; bearing hostility toward none, he becomes without enmity and unbound by grasping.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Renunciation is not merely the forced absence of pleasures; it is the inner freedom that remains even when pleasures are available. True tyāga arises from discerning the defects of sense-enjoyments and releasing attachment, which leads to dispassion and a mind free from hostility and grasping.
Vaiśaṃpāyana delivers a reflective ethical maxim within the Vana Parva context, emphasizing the distinction between accidental abstinence (due to non-availability) and genuine renunciation grounded in insight and self-mastery.