Shloka 2
भिक्षुलक्षणम्—एकचर्याः, अहिंसा, कैवल्याश्रमः
Marks of the Mendicant: Solitary Wandering, Non-Injury, and the Kaivalya-Discipline
शुक उवाच कि तज्ज्ञानमथो विद्या यथा निस्तरते द्वयम् प्रवृत्तिलक्षणो धर्मो निवृत्तिरेति वा वद
śuka uvāca: ki taj jñānam atho vidyā yathā nistarate dvayam? pravṛtti-lakṣaṇo dharmo nivṛttir eti vā vada.
Śuka dit : «Quelle est cette connaissance—quel est ce véritable enseignement—par lequel l’homme franchit la double servitude de la naissance et de la mort ? Dis-le-moi : est-ce le dharma marqué par l’engagement dans l’action (pravṛtti), ou bien la voie du retrait et du renoncement (nivṛtti) ?»
शुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a central inquiry of Indian ethics and soteriology: which kind of wisdom truly liberates from saṃsāra (the cycle marked by birth and death)—the dharma of active engagement (pravṛtti) or the dharma of renunciation (nivṛtti). It sets up a discussion on the relative roles of action, duty, and withdrawal in attaining liberation.
Śuka, in dialogue with his father (traditionally Vyāsa), asks for clarification about the liberating knowledge. He requests a decisive explanation of whether the path to transcend birth and death is primarily through worldly duty and action-oriented dharma or through renunciant withdrawal.