Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 81

Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)

Devanagari script

सर्वभूतदया धर्मो न चैकग्रामवासिता । आशापाशविमोक्षश्न शस्यते मोक्षकाड्क्षिणाम्‌

Transliteration

sarvabhūtadayā dharmo na caikagrāmavāsitā | āśāpāśavimokṣaś ca śasyate mokṣakāṅkṣiṇām ||

Translation

महेश्वर ने कहा—मोक्ष की अभिलाषा रखने वालों के लिए समस्त प्राणियों पर दया ही धर्म है। उन्हें एक ही गाँव या एक ही ठिकाने में बँधकर नहीं रहना चाहिए; और आशा तथा तृष्णा के पाशों को काटने का प्रयत्न करना चाहिए। यही मुमुक्षुओं के लिए प्रशंसित आचरण है।

Word by Word

• {'sarva-bhūta-dayā': 'compassion/mercy toward all living beings', 'dharmaḥ': 'righteous duty

• spiritual discipline', 'na': 'not', 'ca': 'and', 'eka-grāma-vāsitā': 'dwelling in only one village

• being settled in one place (as a limitation)', 'āśā': 'hope

• desire', 'pāśa': 'noose

• fetter', 'vimokṣaḥ': 'release

• liberation (from bonds)', 'śasyate': 'is praised

• is commended', 'mokṣa': 'liberation

• final release', 'kāṅkṣiṇām': 'of those who desire/seek'}

Speaker

श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śrīmaheśvara (Mahādeva/Śiva)
• sarvabhūta (all beings)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A seeker of liberation should ground life in universal compassion, avoid narrow attachment to a fixed place or routine, and actively break the inner fetters of hope-driven craving; these qualities are praised as the path of a mumukṣu.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction-focused setting, Śrīmaheśvara speaks as a spiritual authority, laying down practical marks of a mokṣa-seeker—ethical compassion, non-clinging to residence, and inner detachment from desire.