Shloka 34
उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय 33: धृतराष्ट्र-विदुर संवादः (विदुरनीतिः)
गन्धेन गाव: पश्यन्ति वेद: पश्यन्ति ब्राह्मणा: । चारै: पश्यन्ति राजानश्नक्षुभ्यामितरे जना:
gandhena gāvaḥ paśyanti | vedaḥ paśyanti brāhmaṇāḥ | cāraiḥ paśyanti rājānaḥ | akṣubhyām itare janāḥ |
Sapi mengenali dengan penciuman; para brahmana mengenali melalui Weda. Para raja mengenali melalui para mata-mata; orang lain mengenali dengan mata.
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.