Shloka 10
Ātma-saṃyama-dharma: One-pointedness of Mind and Senses (शुक–व्यास संवादः)
शुक उवाच यदिदं वेदवचनं लोकवादे विरुध्यते । प्रमाणे वाप्रमाणे च विरुद्धे शास्त्रता कुत:
śuka uvāca yad idaṃ vedavacanaṃ lokavāde virudhyate | pramāṇe vāpramāṇe ca viruddhe śāstratā kutaḥ ||
Śuka berkata: “Ayah, ajaran Weda ini, bila ditimbang dengan nalar duniawi, tampak saling bertentangan. Ia berbicara dua cara: ‘lakukan karma’ dan ‘tinggalkan karma’. Apakah keduanya otoritatif atau tidak? Jika otoritatif, bagaimana dapat diterima sebagai śāstra ketika saling berlawanan? Bagaimana keduanya bisa sah sekaligus? Aku ingin mendengarnya dengan jelas.”
शुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a classic hermeneutic problem: the Veda appears to teach both engagement in action (pravṛtti) and withdrawal/renunciation (nivṛtti). Śuka asks how both can be authoritative despite seeming contradiction, and how liberation can be achieved without rejecting action in a way that conflicts with dharma.
Śuka, in dialogue with his father (traditionally Vyāsa), raises a philosophical doubt about the Veda’s mixed injunctions. He requests a resolution: whether the statements are pramāṇa, how they can be śāstra if mutually opposed, and the practical path to mokṣa that does not create a quarrel with the domain of karma.