Shloka 53
Ārjava, Satya, and the Virocana–Sudhanvan Exemplum
Udyoga-parva 35
अनश्रिता दानपुण्यं वेदपुण्यमनाश्रिता: । रागद्वेषविनिर्मुक्ता विचरन्तीह मोक्षिण:
anaśritā dānapuṇyaṃ vedapuṇyam anāśritāḥ | rāgadveṣavinirmuktā vicarantīha mokṣiṇaḥ ||
ヴィドゥラは言う――真に解脱を求める者は、布施の功徳にも、ヴェーダ祭式の功徳にも寄りかからない。執着と嫌悪を離れ、欲なき束縛なき心でこの世を歩み、報いにすがることなく行いを立てる。
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation-oriented living is marked by inner freedom: one does not act for the sake of accumulating merit (puṇya) through charity or ritual, but lives without attachment and aversion, letting actions be unclaimed by desire for reward.
In Vidura’s counsel during the Udyoga Parva, he articulates a higher ethical-spiritual standpoint: amid political tension and impending conflict, he points to the ideal of the mokṣa-seeker—one who remains inwardly detached and unentangled in reward-seeking religiosity.