Shloka 20
भिक्षुलक्षणम्—एकचर्याः, अहिंसा, कैवल्याश्रमः
Marks of the Mendicant: Solitary Wandering, Non-Injury, and the Kaivalya-Discipline
प्रवक्तृणि द्वयान्याहुरात्मज्ञानीतराणि च । आत्मज्ञानि विशिष्टानि जन्माजन्मोपधारणात्
pravaktṝṇi dvayāny āhur ātmajñānītarāṇi ca | ātmajñāni viśiṣṭāni janmājanmopadhāraṇāt ||
Vyāsa dit : «Les maîtres sont dits de deux sortes : ceux qui connaissent le Soi (Ātman) et ceux qui ne le connaissent pas. Parmi eux, les connaisseurs du Soi sont supérieurs, car ils saisissent le principe qui sous-tend la naissance et les renaissances (et donc aussi le passage par la mort).»
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
True authority in teaching is grounded in ātma-jñāna (knowledge of the Self). Such a teacher is ‘superior’ because they understand the deeper law behind birth, rebirth, and death, and can therefore guide others toward liberation-oriented insight rather than merely worldly instruction.
In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa classifies instructors into two categories—Self-knowers and non-Self-knowers—and establishes a hierarchy of spiritual competence, emphasizing that insight into the cycle of birth (and its transcendence) is the mark of the highest teacher.