Shloka 54
नारद–शुक संवादः
Impermanence, Svabhāva, and Śuka’s Resolve for Yoga
अजसं जन्मनिधनं चिन्तयित्वा त्रयीमिमाम् | परित्यज्य क्षयमिह अक्षयं धर्ममास्थित:
ajasaṃ janma-nidhanaṃ cintayitvā trayīm imām | parityajya kṣayam iha akṣayaṃ dharmam āsthitaḥ ||
Yājñavalkya dit : Considérant que le cycle des naissances et des morts dans le saṃsāra se poursuit sans fin, il faut reconnaître que le système rituel védique (la triade des Veda et les rites prescrits) et ses récompenses sont périssables ; qu’on renonce donc à l’attachement à ces buts passagers et, dès cette vie, qu’on prenne refuge dans le Dharma impérissable.
याज़्ञवल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Because birth and death continue without cessation, one should see ritual actions and their promised rewards as transient and instead commit oneself to the imperishable Dharma—an orientation toward lasting spiritual-ethical realization rather than perishable gains.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and liberation, the sage Yājñavalkya speaks as a teacher, urging a shift from reliance on Vedic ritualism aimed at finite results to the pursuit of an enduring, liberative Dharma grounded in insight into saṃsāra.