Shloka 3
सूक्ष्मभूत-भूतात्मविज्ञानम्
Knowing the subtle principle and the bhūtātman through yoga
कषायं पाचयित्वा$<शु श्रेणिस्थानेषु च त्रिषु । प्रव्रजेच्च परं स्थान पारिव्राज्यमनुत्तमम्
kaṣāyaṃ pācayitvāśu śreṇisthāneṣu ca triṣu | pravrajec ca paraṃ sthānaṃ pārivrājyam anuttamam ||
ਵਿਆਸ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ—ਉਹ ਤਿੰਨ ਕ੍ਰਮਬੱਧ ਆਸ਼ਰਮ-ਸਥਾਨਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਰਹਿ ਕੇ ਰਾਗ-ਦ੍ਵੈਸ਼ ਆਦਿ ਕਸ਼ਾਯਾਂ ਨੂੰ ‘ਪਕਾ ਕੇ’—ਅਰਥਾਤ ਸਾੜ ਕੇ ਨਾਸ ਕਰ ਕੇ—ਸ਼ੀਘ੍ਰ ਹੀ ਪਰਮ ਅਵਸਥਾ, ਅਨੁੱਤਮ ਪਾਰਿਵ੍ਰਾਜ੍ਯ—ਸੰਨਿਆਸ—ਧਾਰਣ ਕਰੇ।
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Renunciation (saṃnyāsa/pārivrājya) is presented as the highest stage, to be undertaken after one has purified inner defilements (attachments, aversions, passions) and properly lived through the three prior āśramas; it emphasizes maturity, duty, and inner cleansing as prerequisites for the supreme path.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and life-stages, Vyāsa advises the listener that after completing the ordered progression of brahmacarya, gṛhastha, and vānaprastha—and after destroying inner stains—one should ‘go forth’ into the unsurpassed wandering renunciant life.