Shloka 58
तृष्णाक्षय-उपदेशः
Instruction on the Cessation of Craving
यः वलश्चिन्न्याय्य आचार: सर्व शास्त्रमिति श्रुति: । यदन्याय्यमशास्त्र तदित्येषा श्रूयते श्रुति:
yaḥ śāstraś cin nyāyya ācāraḥ sarvaṃ śāstram iti śrutiḥ | yad anyāyyam aśāstraṃ tad ity eṣā śrūyate śrutiḥ ||
ಕಪಿಲರು ಹೇಳಿದರು—ಯಾವುದೇ ನ್ಯಾಯಸಮ್ಮತ ಆಚರಣೆ ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿ ‘ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ’ವೆಂದು ಶ್ರುತಿ ಘೋಷಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಮತ್ತು ಯಾವುದು ಅನ್ಯಾಯವೋ, ಅದು ‘ಅಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ’ವೆಂದು ಕೂಡ ಶ್ರುತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕೇಳಿಬರುತ್ತದೆ.
कपिल उवाच
Educational Q&A
Right conduct itself is the true measure of ‘śāstra’: whatever is just and ethically sound counts as authoritative dharma-teaching, while whatever is unjust is to be rejected as non-śāstric.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Kapila states a guiding criterion for evaluating practices and claims of authority: justice and propriety validate a rule as śāstra, whereas injustice marks it as aśāstra.