Mahabharata 3.201.106 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 201, Shloka 106
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
नित्यं हनशनादू् वापि नाग्निशुश्रूषणादपि । न चोदकप्रवेशेन न च क्ष्माशयनादपि
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | nityaṁ hanaśanād vāpi nāgniśuśrūṣaṇād api | na codakapravēśena na ca kṣmāśayanād api ||
Юдхиштхира сказал: «Человек не достигает ни чистоты, ни высшего блага одним лишь постоянным постом; не достигает их и служением священному огню, и погружением в воду, и сном на голой земле. Такие внешние подвиги, оторванные от внутренней заслуги и бескорыстного намерения, сами по себе не приносят истинного очищения и не ведут к высшему пути.»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
External austerities—fasting, fire-ritual service, ritual bathing, and sleeping on the ground—do not by themselves produce purification or the highest good; inner merit and selfless intention are essential.
In the Vana Parva discourse context, Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the limits of mere ascetic practices, emphasizing that ethical intention and genuine virtue, not outward observances alone, lead to true spiritual progress.
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