Shloka 60
क्षुत्तृष्णोपशमं तद्वच् शीताद्युपशमं सुखम् मन्यते बालबुद्धित्वाद् दुःखम् एव हि तत् पुनः
kṣuttṛṣṇopaśamaṃ tadvac śītādyupaśamaṃ sukham manyate bālabuddhitvād duḥkham eva hi tat punaḥ
Just as the easing of hunger and thirst is taken to be happiness, so too the mere relief from cold and the like is imagined as pleasure. Yet, through childish understanding, that very ‘happiness’ is truly suffering again—only pain paused for a moment, not peace attained.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Critiquing mistaken notions of pleasure as mere cessation of pain; teaching discernment (viveka) for vairāgya
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: analytical and corrective
Concept: What is taken as happiness—relief from hunger, thirst, cold, and similar pains—is only a temporary pause of suffering, misunderstood due to immature discernment.
Vedantic Theme: Moksha
Application: Notice how many ‘pleasures’ are just relief cycles; redirect effort toward lasting peace through meditation, devotion, and ethical steadiness.
Vishishtadvaita: True sukha is not mere sensory relief but the enduring śānti found in communion with the Supreme Person, whose bliss is intrinsic and not pain-dependent.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Shanta
FAQs
This verse frames ordinary pleasure as temporary relief from discomfort, teaching that worldly ‘sukha’ is not a positive, lasting state but an interval within suffering—prompting detachment and the search for liberation.
Parāśara says the immature mind mistakes the stopping of hunger, thirst, cold, and similar afflictions as happiness; but since these afflictions return, that supposed happiness is inseparable from the cycle of duḥkha.
By undermining reliance on sensory relief, the teaching directs the seeker toward the Supreme Reality—Vishnu—as the source of enduring peace, beyond the recurring alternation of bodily pain and momentary comfort.