Shloka 3
Śānti-parva 168: Śoka-nivṛtti-buddhi (The Cognition that Reduces Grief) and Piṅgalā’s Nairāśya
कम्मिंश्षात्मा निधातव्यस्त्रिवर्गविजयाय वै । संहृष्टा नै्ठिकं वाक्यं यथावद् वक्तुमर्हथ
kasmiṁś cātmā nidhātavyas trivarga-vijayāya vai | saṁhṛṣṭā naiṣṭhikaṁ vākyaṁ yathāvad vaktum arhatha ||
या तिन्हीवर विजय मिळवण्यासाठी विशेषतः मन कुठे स्थिर करावे? तुम्ही सर्वांनी आनंदाने व दृढ निश्चयाने या प्रश्नाचे यथार्थ उत्तर द्या—ज्यावर तुमची पूर्ण व अढळ श्रद्धा आहे, तेच सांगा.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an ethical inquiry: to master the three worldly aims (dharma, artha, kāma), one must fix the mind upon a chosen foundation, and the respondents are urged to speak a correct teaching grounded in firm personal conviction (naiṣṭhikī niṣṭhā).
Vaiśampāyana introduces a question being posed to a group of respondents: they are asked, with enthusiasm and seriousness, to declare what the mind should be anchored in to achieve mastery over the trivarga, and to answer in a properly reasoned and sincerely held way.