Mahabharata 3.201.106 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 201, Shloka 106
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
नित्यं हनशनादू् वापि नाग्निशुश्रूषणादपि । न चोदकप्रवेशेन न च क्ष्माशयनादपि
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | nityaṁ hanaśanād vāpi nāgniśuśrūṣaṇād api | na codakapravēśena na ca kṣmāśayanād api ||
ユディシュティラは言った。「人は、常に断食することによっても、聖火に仕えることによっても、水に身を沈めることによっても、裸地に寝ることによっても、清浄や最高の善を得るのではない。内なる功徳と無私の意志から切り離された外形の苦行は、それ自体では真の浄化も至高の道ももたらさぬ。」
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
External austerities—fasting, fire-ritual service, ritual bathing, and sleeping on the ground—do not by themselves produce purification or the highest good; inner merit and selfless intention are essential.
In the Vana Parva discourse context, Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the limits of mere ascetic practices, emphasizing that ethical intention and genuine virtue, not outward observances alone, lead to true spiritual progress.
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