Shloka 48
Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
रुजा शूलकृता चैव न ते विप्र भविष्यति । आधिभिव्यधिभिश्रैव वर्जितस्त्वं भविष्यसि
rujā śūlakṛtā caiva na te vipra bhaviṣyati | ādhibhir vyādhibhiś caiva varjitas tvaṃ bhaviṣyasi ||
Māṇḍavya disse: “Ó brâmane, a dor causada pela estaca não será tua; e permanecerás livre tanto das aflições da mente quanto das doenças do corpo.”
माण्डव्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that wrongful external suffering need not culminate in inner ruin: the promised freedom from pain, anxiety, and disease frames an ethical ideal that injustice is ultimately answerable to a higher moral order, and that spiritual merit can neutralize the effects of inflicted harm.
Māṇḍavya recounts (or cites) an assurance given to a brāhmaṇa who has been impaled on a stake: despite the execution-like punishment, he is told that the stake will not cause him pain and that he will be free from mental distress and physical illness.