Shloka 60
तृष्णाक्षय-उपदेशः
Instruction on the Cessation of Craving
शास्त्रादपेतं पश्यन्ति बहवो व्यक्तमानिन: । शास्त्रदोषान् न पश्यन्ति शोचन्ति च यथा वयम् | इन्द्रियार्थाश्न भवतां समाना: सर्वजन्तुषु
śāstrād apetaṁ paśyanti bahavo vyaktamāninaḥ | śāstradoṣān na paśyanti śocanti ca yathā vayam | indriyārthāś ca bhavatāṁ samānāḥ sarvajantuṣu ||
Kapila dit : Beaucoup, fiers de ne s’en remettre qu’à ce qui se montre aux sens, détournent leurs yeux des śāstra et ne regardent que ce monde. Ils ne voient pas les défauts que les śāstra dénoncent et—se réfugiant dans des vues non védiques—ils s’affligent, comme nous nous affligeons. Quant aux objets des sens : leur effet est le même sur toi que sur tous les êtres ; même le sage rencontre le domaine des sens, mais il doit le discerner avec justesse.
कपिल उवाच
Educational Q&A
Kapila warns that those who rely only on what is directly perceptible (the ‘manifest’) and turn away from śāstra fail to notice the deeper defects of worldly life; as a result they fall into grief. Even the wise experience sense-objects like all beings, but wisdom lies in discernment and non-enslavement to them.
In the Śānti Parva’s instructional dialogue, Kapila is delivering a philosophical-ethical critique of non-scriptural, purely sense-based outlooks. He contrasts śāstra-guided insight with worldly empiricism and explains why attachment to sense-objects leads to sorrow, even though sense experience itself is common to all creatures.