Shloka 15

अध्याय २८६ — पराशर-उपदेशः

Ethical Restraint, Mortality, and Karma

Devanagari script

न बान्धवा न च वित्त न कौल्यं नच श्रुतं न च मन्त्रा न वीर्यम्‌ । दुःखात्‌ त्रातुं सर्व एवोत्सहन्ते परत्र शीलेन तु यान्ति शान्तिम्‌

Transliteration

samaḍa uvāca | na bāndhavā na ca vittaṁ na kaulyaṁ na ca śrutaṁ na ca mantrā na vīryam | duḥkhāt trātuṁ sarva evotsahante paratra śīlena tu yānti śāntim ||

Translation

ન સગાં-સંબંધીઓ, ન ધન, ન ઉત્તમ કુળ, ન શાસ્ત્રજ્ઞાન, ન મંત્ર, ન પરાક્રમ—આ બધું મળીને પણ કોઈને સાચે દુઃખમાંથી ઉગારવા સમર્થ નથી. પરલોકમાં મનુષ્ય શાંતિ માત્ર પોતાના શીલ-સ્વભાવ અને આચરણથી જ પામે છે.

Word by Word

• {'bāndhava': 'kinsman, relative, one connected by family ties', 'vitta': 'wealth, property, material means', 'kaulya': 'noble birth, good lineage, family status', 'śruta': 'learning

• what is heard/learned, especially Vedic or scriptural knowledge', 'mantra': 'sacred formula

• ritual utterance', 'vīrya': 'valor, strength, heroic power', 'duḥkha': 'suffering, distress, pain', 'trātuṁ': 'to rescue, to save, to deliver', 'sarve': 'all (people/things) collectively', 'utsahante': 'are able/strive

• undertake (to do)', 'paratra': 'in the hereafter

• in the next world', 'śīla': 'character, moral disposition, habitual conduct', 'śānti': 'peace, tranquility, final calm'}

Speaker

समड़ उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Samaḍa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

External supports—family, money, status, learning, ritual power, and even strength—do not guarantee freedom from suffering; lasting peace, especially in the hereafter, is grounded in śīla (moral character and conduct).

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, the speaker Samaḍa delivers a moral reflection, contrasting worldly advantages with inner virtue, and asserting that true peace is attained through character rather than possessions or power.