Shloka 14
नारद–असित (देवल) संवादः — भूतप्रभवाप्यय, इन्द्रिय-गुण-विवेक, क्षेत्रज्ञ-तत्त्व
देवयाना हि पन्थानश्षत्वार: शाश्वता मता: । एषां ज्याय: कनीयस्त्वं फलेषूक्तं बलाबलम्
devayānā hi panthānaś catvāraḥ śāśvatā matāḥ | eṣāṃ jyāyaḥ kanīyastvaṃ phaleṣūktaṃ balābalam ||
Капила сказал: «Четыре пути, именуемые “деваяна”, почитаются вечными. Среди них, какой выше и какой ниже—и даже какой сильнее и какой слабее—постигается, если рассмотреть плоды, которые они приносят».
कपिल उवाच
Educational Q&A
Kapila teaches that the relative excellence of the four devayāna paths is judged by their fruits—i.e., the ethical and spiritual results they produce—rather than by name, status, or mere external form.
In the Śānti Parva’s instructional dialogue, Kapila is explaining a framework of four perennial spiritual disciplines (understood as the four āśramas) and introducing a criterion for comparing them: their outcomes (phala), which reveal their true strength or weakness.