Shloka 14
निरय-परमस्थान-वर्णनम्
Niraya and the Supreme Station: A Metaphysical Re-reading
नित्यमेव सुखं स्वर्गे सुखं दुः:खमिहो भयम् । नरके दुःखमेवाहु: सुखं तत्परमं पदम्,स्वर्गमें सदा सुख ही होता है। इस मर्त्यलोकमें सुख और दु:ख दोनों होते हैं। नरकमें केवल दुःख-ही-दुःख बताया गया है। वास्तविक सुख तो वह परमपदस्वरूप परब्रह्म परमात्मा ही है
nityam eva sukhaṃ svarge sukhaṃ duḥkham iha u bhayam | narake duḥkham evāhuḥ sukhaṃ tat paramam padam ||
Bharadvāja dijo: «En el cielo hay dicha solamente, siempre. En este mundo mortal se hallan tanto la dicha como el sufrimiento. En el infierno, dicen, no existe sino sufrimiento. La verdadera dicha, sin embargo, es ese estado supremo: el parama-pada, la morada más alta, el Brahman Supremo.»
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
Pleasure in heaven and pain in hell are still conditioned experiences; the verse points beyond them to the highest good—true, unsurpassed happiness identified with the supreme state (parama-pada), i.e., realization of Brahman/Paramātman.
In the didactic discourse of the Śānti Parva, Bharadvāja states a graded view of realms—heaven, the human world, and hell—and then elevates the discussion by asserting that the ultimate aim is not any realm but the supreme state itself.