Shloka 93
इष्टार्थो विद्यया होव न विद्यां प्रजह्ेन्नर: । जिस प्रकार पानी पीनेसे मनुष्यकी प्यास अवश्य बुझ जाती है
iṣṭārtho vidyayā hova na vidyāṃ prajahennaraḥ |
Yudhiṣṭhira dit : «Si le but désiré était infailliblement atteint par l’étude, nul ne délaisserait ni ne négligerait la connaissance. De même que boire de l’eau étanche à coup sûr la soif, ainsi—si l’apprentissage donnait sans faute le résultat souhaité—chacun s’y attacherait.»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Knowledge (vidyā) is valuable, but it does not mechanically guarantee the attainment of one’s desired ends. If learning unfailingly produced success, no one would ever neglect it; the fact that people do neglect it shows that outcomes depend on additional factors beyond mere learning.
In Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction-focused setting, Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the relationship between learning and the fulfillment of aims, using an everyday analogy (water quenching thirst) to argue that knowledge is not an automatic, invariable means to every desired result.