Shloka 43
ब्राह्मणानुयात्रा—शौनकोपदेशः
Brāhmaṇas Follow into Exile and Śaunaka’s Instruction
अर्थजानि विदु: प्राज्ञा: दुःखान्येतानि देहिनाम् । अर्थस्योत्पादने चैव पालने च तथा क्षये,“इसलिये धन-प्राप्तिके सभी उपाय मनमें मोह बढ़ानेवाले हैं। कृपणता, घमण्ड, अभिमान, भय और उद्वेग इन्हें विद्वानोंने देहधारियोंके लिये धनजनित दुःख माना है। धनके उपार्जन, संरक्षण तथा व्ययमें मनुष्य महान् दुःख सहन करते हैं और धनके ही कारण एक- दूसरेको मार डालते हैं। धनको त्यागनेमें भी महान् दुःख होता है और यदि उसकी रक्षा की जाय तो वह शत्रुका-सा काम करता है:
arthajāni viduḥ prājñāḥ duḥkhāny etāni dehinām | arthasyotpādane caiva pālane ca tathā kṣaye ||
Vaiśampāyana said: The wise recognize these as the sufferings that arise from wealth for embodied beings. In the very gaining of wealth, in guarding it, and again in its loss, a person is made to endure distress.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Wealth is not presented as pure benefit; it generates predictable forms of suffering—strain in acquiring it, anxiety in protecting it, and grief when it diminishes—thereby warning against attachment and urging ethical restraint.
Vaiśampāyana continues a reflective discourse in Vana Parva, characterizing the human condition around artha: embodied beings become entangled in distress through the cycles of earning, guarding, and losing possessions.