Mahabharata 3.2.35 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 2, Shloka 35
ब्राह्मणानुयात्रा—शौनकोपदेशः
Brāhmaṇas Follow into Exile and Śaunaka’s Instruction
तृष्णा हि सर्वपापिष्ठा नित्योद्वेगकरी स्मृता । अधर्मबहुला चैव घोरा पापानुबन्धिनी
tṛṣṇā hi sarvapāpiṣṭhā nityodvegakarī smṛtā | adharmabahulā caiva ghorā pāpānubandhinī ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “Craving (tṛṣṇā) is remembered as the most sinful of all, for it continually breeds agitation. It is largely a cause of adharma, and, dreadful in its power, it binds one to the consequences of sin.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Insatiable craving (tṛṣṇā) is portrayed as a prime inner cause of sin: it generates continual mental unrest, multiplies adharma, and entangles a person in harmful karmic consequences.
Vaiśampāyana, in a didactic passage, characterizes tṛṣṇā as a destructive force in human conduct—linking desire-driven agitation to unethical action and subsequent bondage to sin.
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