Shloka 22
Draupadī’s Lament and Theodicy: Dharma, Dice, and Īśvara’s Governance (Āraṇyaka-parva 31)
यस्य नार्ष प्रमाणं स्याच्छिष्टाचारक्ष भाविनि । न वै तस्य परो लोको नायमस्तीति निश्चय:,भाविनि! जिसकी दृष्टिमें ऋषियोंके वचन और शिष्ट पुरुषोंके आचार प्रमाणभूत नहीं हैं, उसके लिये न यह लोक है और न परलोक, यह तत्त्ववेत्ता महापुरुषोंका निश्चय है
yasya nārṣa-pramāṇaṁ syāc chiṣṭācāra-kṣa-bhāvini | na vai tasya paro loko nāyam astīti niścayaḥ ||
Yudhiṣṭhira dijo: «Oh noble señora, para quien no acepta como autoridad el testimonio de los ṛṣis, ni toma como norma la conducta establecida de los virtuosos, no hay—según concluyen los conocedores de la verdad—ni este mundo ni el otro. Tal persona queda sin suelo firme para la vida, el deber y el sentido.»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma requires reliable standards: the testimony of the ṛṣis (ārṣa-pramāṇa) and the lived example of the virtuous (śiṣṭācāra). Rejecting both leaves a person without any coherent basis for right action or for affirming meaning in either this life or the next.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a noble lady in a moral discussion, emphasizing that those who dismiss seer-authority and exemplary social conduct become unmoored from dharma, effectively forfeiting the ordered goods of both worldly life and the hope of the beyond.