Shloka 29
अरण्यवृत्ति-वैराग्योपदेशः | Forest Discipline and the Program of Non-Attachment
वीतरागश्नरन्रेवं तुष्टिं प्राप्स्यामि शाश्वतीम् । तृष्णया हि महत् पापमज्ञानादस्मि कारित:
vītarāgaś caran evaṁ tuṣṭiṁ prāpsyāmi śāśvatīm | tṛṣṇayā hi mahat pāpam ajñānād asmi kāritaḥ ||
युधिष्ठिर बोले— “इस प्रकार वीतराग होकर विचरने से मुझे शाश्वत संतोष प्राप्त होगा। क्योंकि तृष्णा ने ही—मेरे अज्ञान के कारण—मुझसे बड़े-बड़े पाप करवाए हैं।”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Lasting peace comes from becoming vītarāga (free of attachment). Craving (tṛṣṇā), when joined with ignorance (ajñāna), becomes a powerful inner driver that leads one into grave wrongdoing; therefore ethical life requires disciplining desire through insight and detachment.
In the Śānti Parva’s reflective setting after the war, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks in a tone of remorse and self-examination. He resolves toward a detached mode of life and interprets his past moral failures as having been propelled by craving, which he now recognizes as rooted in ignorance.