Shloka 14
Adhyāya 222 — ब्रह्मस्थानप्राप्ति: मोक्षधर्मे समत्वव्रतम्
Attaining the Brahman-Station: The Vow of Equanimity in Mokṣadharma
प्रह्माद उवाच प्रवृत्ति च निवृत्ति च भूतानां यो न बुद्धयते । तस्य स्तम्भो भवेद् बाल्यान्नास्ति स्तम्भो5नुपश्यत:
prahlāda uvāca pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca bhūtānāṁ yo na budhyate | tasya stambho bhaved bālyān nāsti stambho'nupaśyataḥ ||
Prahlāda dijo: «Quien no comprende, en los seres vivos, los dos caminos—la vía de la acción y la vía del apartamiento de la acción—cae en una rigidez obstinada nacida de la niñez del entendimiento. Para quien ve de verdad (las cosas como son), no existe tal fijación terca».
प्रह्माद उवाच
Educational Q&A
True wisdom discerns when action (pravṛtti) is appropriate and when withdrawal/renunciation (nivṛtti) is appropriate. Failure to discern these leads to immature rigidity (stambha), whereas clear seeing produces flexibility, humility, and right judgment.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and inner discipline, Prahlāda speaks as a teacher, contrasting the immature person who clings stubbornly to a single stance with the discerning person who understands both life-paths—worldly engagement and renunciant withdrawal—and therefore is not trapped by dogmatic fixation.