Shloka 29

Vidyā–Avidyā and the Twenty-Fifth Principle

Sāṃkhya–Yoga Clarification

Devanagari script

अप्रियाण्यवमानांश्व दुःखं बहुविधात्मकम्‌ । फलार्थी तत्फलं त्यक्त्वा प्राप्रोति विषयात्मकम्‌

Transliteration

apriyāṇy avamānāṁś ca duḥkhaṁ bahuvidhātmakam | phalārthī tatphalaṁ tyaktvā prāpnoti viṣayātmakam ||

Translation

Dijo Parāśara: «Quien actúa deseando frutos se topa con lo desagradable: afrentas y sufrimientos de muchas clases. Pero cuando renuncia a ese mismo fruto de la acción, alcanza la realidad interior de todos los objetos de experiencia: el Brahman supremo, el Señor que es el Sí mismo de todo.»

Word by Word

• {'apriyāṇi': 'unpleasant things

• what is disagreeable', 'avamānān': 'insults, humiliations, dishonour', 'duḥkham': 'suffering, pain', 'bahuvidhātmakam': 'of many kinds

• manifold in nature', 'phalārthī': 'one who seeks the fruit (result) (of action)', 'tat-phalam': 'that fruit/result (of action)', 'tyaktvā': 'having abandoned

• renouncing', 'prāpnoti': 'attains

• reaches', 'viṣayātmakam': 'the essence/nature of the objects (viṣayas)

Speaker

पराशर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Parāśara

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Desire for the fruits of action binds one to unpleasant outcomes—humiliation and varied suffering—whereas renouncing attachment to results (phala-tyāga) leads toward realization of the Supreme Brahman, the Self underlying all experiences.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction on liberation-oriented dharma, the sage Parāśara teaches that motivated, result-seeking action produces distress, but abandoning fixation on outcomes transforms action into a means for spiritual attainment—culminating in realization of Brahman.