Shloka 31

Adhyāya 262: Śabda-brahman, Para-brahman, and the Ethics of Tyāga

Kapila–Syūmaraśmi Saṃvāda

Devanagari script

आवृत्तिस्तस्य चैकस्थ नास्त्यावृत्तिर्मनीषिण: । उभौ तौ देवयानेन गच्छतो जाजले यथा

Transliteration

āvṛttis tasya caikastha nāsty āvṛttir manīṣiṇaḥ | ubhau tau devayānena gacchato jājale yathā ||

Translation

Chūḍādhāra dit : «Pour celui qui demeure attaché aux désirs, il y a bien retour — une nouvelle naissance en ce monde ; mais pour le sage, il n’y a pas de retour ici. Bien que tous deux empruntent la voie divine vers des domaines de mérite, c’est la différence de résolution et d’intention intérieure qui décide du retour ou du non-retour — comme dans ton cas, ô Jājali.»

Word by Word

• {'āvṛttiḥ': 'return

• rebirth', 'tasya': 'of that person (i.e., the desire-attached one)', 'ca': 'and

• indeed', 'ekastha': 'O one standing alone / O solitary one (vocative address)', 'nāsti': 'there is not', 'manīṣiṇaḥ': 'of the wise person

• of the discerning sage', 'ubhau': 'both', 'tau': 'those two', 'devayānena': 'by the devayāna, the ‘divine path’ (path leading upward to higher worlds/liberation)', 'gacchataḥ': 'they two go

• they proceed', 'yathā': 'as

• just as', 'jājale': 'O Jājali (vocative)'}

Speaker

चुलाधार उवाच

Characters & Entities

• चुलाधार (Chūḍādhāra)
• जाजलि (Jājali)
• देवयान (Devayāna)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Attachment to desires leads to āvṛtti—return to worldly birth—whereas the wise (manīṣin), free from such clinging, attains anāvṛtti (non-return). Even if both reach higher worlds via the devayāna, the decisive factor is the inner saṅkalpa (intention/resolve): desire-bound merit returns; wisdom-oriented realization does not.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shānti Parva’s instruction to Jājali, Chūḍādhāra contrasts two spiritual outcomes. He addresses Jājali directly, explaining that similar outward religious attainment (going by the ‘divine path’) can yield different results depending on one’s inner orientation—desire-driven versus discerning and detached.