Shloka 100
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
न ज्ञातिभ्यो दया यस्य शुक्लदेहोडविकल्मष: । हिंसा सा तपसस्तस्य नानाशित्वं तप: स्मृतम्,जिसने व्रत, उपवास आदिके द्वारा शरीरको तो शुद्ध कर लिया और जो नाना प्रकारके पापकर्म भी नहीं करता, किंतु जिसके मनमें अपने कुटुम्बी जनोंके प्रति दया नहीं आती, उसकी वह निर्दयता उसके तपका नाश करनेवाली है; केवल भोजन छोड़ देनेका ही नाम तपस्या नहीं है
na jñātibhyo dayā yasya śukla-deho 'davikalmaṣaḥ | hiṃsā sā tapasas tasya nānāśitvaṃ tapaḥ smṛtam ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “He whose body has been made outwardly pure through vows and fasting, and who avoids diverse sinful acts, yet feels no compassion for his own kinsmen—such hardness of heart becomes a violence that destroys his austerity. Austerity is not merely the abandonment of food.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
True tapas is ethical and relational: compassion toward one’s own kin is essential. Outward purity through vows or fasting is undermined if the heart is cruel; such lack of mercy is treated as a form of hiṃsā that destroys ascetic merit.
In the Vana Parva discourse context, Yudhiṣṭhira articulates a dharma-based critique of merely external asceticism, emphasizing that inner disposition—especially kindness toward relatives—determines the real value of vows and austerities.