Shloka 34
गन्धेन गाव: पश्यन्ति वेद: पश्यन्ति ब्राह्मणा: । चारै: पश्यन्ति राजानश्नक्षुभ्यामितरे जना:,इति श्रीमहाभारते उद्योगपर्वणि प्रजागरपर्वणि विदुरनीतिवाक्ये चतुस्त्रिंशो 5 ध्याय: इस प्रकार श्रीमह्ााभारत उद्योगपर्वके अन्तर्गत प्रजागरपर्वमें विदुर-नीतिवाक्यविषयक चौंतीसवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
gandhena gāvaḥ paśyanti | vedaḥ paśyanti brāhmaṇāḥ | cāraiḥ paśyanti rājānaḥ | akṣubhyām itare janāḥ |
गन्ध से गौएँ देखती हैं, वेद से ब्राह्मण देखते हैं; चर (गुप्तचर) से राजा देखते हैं और अन्य लोग आँखों से देखते हैं।
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Different beings and social roles have different means of reliable knowledge: cows rely on scent, Brahmins on Vedic learning, kings on intelligence-gathering, and ordinary people chiefly on direct sight. The ethical point is that a ruler should not govern by superficial appearances but by well-informed discernment.
In the Prajāgara-parvan section of Udyoga Parva, Vidura delivers nīti (practical-ethical counsel). This verse concludes a sequence of aphoristic teachings, emphasizing appropriate instruments of perception and, for kings, the necessity of spies and informed inquiry.