Shloka 11
तृष्णाक्षय-उपदेशः
Instruction on the Cessation of Craving
निरासैरलसै: श्रान्तैस्तप्यमानै: स्वकर्मभि: । शमस्योपरमो दृष्ट: प्रत्रज्यायामपण्डितै:
nirāśair alasaiḥ śrāntais tapyamānaiḥ svakarmabhiḥ | śamasyoparamo dṛṣṭaḥ pravrajyāyām apaṇḍitaiḥ ||
Kapila dit : «Ce sont les insensés qui, sans foi ni élan, paresseux et épuisés, tourmentés par les conséquences de leurs propres actes, s’imaginent que la paix ne se trouve que dans la renonciation. Se réfugiant dans la voie du mendiant errant, ils déclarent que la discipline du maître de maison manque de tranquillité ; mais ce jugement vient de leur faiblesse, non de la vraie nature du dharma.»
कपिल उवाच
Educational Q&A
Peace (śama) is not guaranteed merely by adopting external renunciation; those lacking steadiness and discernment may flee to pravrajyā and then wrongly disparage the householder path. True tranquility depends on inner discipline and wisdom, not on the label of one’s āśrama.
In Kapila’s discourse in the Śānti Parva, he critiques superficial renunciation: certain weary and deluded people, distressed by their own karmic burdens, claim that only the renunciant life yields peace and that the householder life cannot lead to liberation. Kapila frames this as an error of the unwise.