Shloka 7
भिक्षुलक्षणम्—एकचर्याः, अहिंसा, कैवल्याश्रमः
Marks of the Mendicant: Solitary Wandering, Non-Injury, and the Kaivalya-Discipline
कृष्यादीनीह कर्माणि सस्यसंहरणानि च । प्रज्ञावद्धिः प्रक्लृप्तानि यानासनगृहाणि च
kṛṣyādīnīha karmāṇi sasyasaṁharaṇāni ca | prajñāvaddhiḥ praklṛptāni yānāsanagṛhāṇi ca ||
Vyāsa dit : En ce monde, des travaux tels que le labour et les autres tâches agricoles, la collecte et l’entreposage des grains, ainsi que la fabrication et l’usage des véhicules, des sièges et des demeures, tout cela est ordonné et accompli par des êtres conscients doués d’intelligence. Si ces activités naissaient d’elles-mêmes, par la seule nature, nul ne s’y appliquerait volontairement. Il est donc manifeste que derrière la subsistance des hommes et l’ordre de la société se tiennent l’effort délibéré et l’esprit de discernement, non une spontanéité aveugle.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse argues for intentional human agency: essential worldly activities (farming, storing grain, building homes, making conveyances) are not automatic products of nature but are organized through intelligence and deliberate effort. Hence responsibility and purposeful action are central to sustaining life and society.
Vyāsa is explaining, in a reflective teaching context of Śānti Parva, that everyday civilization—food production, storage, transport, and shelter—depends on conscious planning by intelligent beings, reinforcing a moral-philosophical point about effort, choice, and accountability.