Shloka 15
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
वस्त्राणि चान्यानि बहुन्यभिमन्यत्यबुद्धिमान् । भोजनानि विचित्राणि रत्नानि विविधानि च
vasistha uvāca | vastrāṇi cānyāni bahūny abhimanyaty abuddhimān | bhojanāni vicitrāṇi ratnāni vividhāni ca |
Васиṣṭха сказал: «Глупец гордится множеством разных одежд. Он разыскивает затейливую, разнообразную пищу и украшает себя драгоценностями всякого рода — принимая эти внешние приобретения за истинную ценность и благополучие».
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
External luxuries—fine clothes, rich foods, and jewels—can inflate pride and delusion. Vasiṣṭha highlights that such possessions are not the measure of true good; discernment and inner virtue are.
In a didactic passage of the Śānti Parva, Vasiṣṭha is instructing by pointing to the behavior of an undiscerning person who chases and boasts of sensory enjoyments and adornments, implying a moral critique and urging a higher standard of value.