Shloka 44
Adhyāya 287 — Janaka’s Inquiry on Śreyas, Abhayadāna, and Asaṅga
Non-attachment
यत्र संलोडिता लुब्धै: प्रायशो धर्मसेतव: । प्रदीप्तमिव चैलान्तं कस्तं देशं न संत्यजेत्,जहाँ लालची मनुष्योंने प्राय: धर्मकी मर्यादाएँ तोड़ डाली हों, जलते हुए कपड़ेकी भाँति उस देशको कौन नहीं त्याग देगा?
yatra saṁloḍitā lubdhaiḥ prāyaśo dharmasetavaḥ | pradīptam iva cailāntaṁ kastaṁ deśaṁ na santyajet ||
Там, где алчные люди по большей части разрушили границы и ограды дхармы, — кто не покинет такую страну, словно одежду, уже охваченную пламенем, которую остаётся лишь отбросить?
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
When greed becomes dominant and the protective limits of dharma are routinely violated, the society itself turns dangerous and morally “burning”; distancing oneself from such a place is presented as a sensible ethical choice.
Narada is offering counsel in the Shanti Parva’s didactic setting, using a vivid simile—an already-burning cloth—to describe a land where dharma’s safeguards have been broken by the greedy, implying that such a place should be abandoned.