युधिष्ठटिर महाबाहो शृणु धर्मभूतां वर,“धर्मात्माओंमें श्रेष्ठ महाबाहु युधिष्ठिर! मेरी बात सुनो, संसारमें जिन्होंने तपस्या नहीं की है, वे महान् सुखकी उपलब्धि नहीं कर पाते हैं। मनुष्य बारी-बारीसे सुख और दुःख दोनोंका सेवन करता है
yudhiṣṭhira mahābāho śṛṇu dharmabhūtāṃ vara | dharmātmāsu śreṣṭha mahābāhu yudhiṣṭhira mama vākyam śṛṇu | ye loke tapasā vihīnāḥ te mahatsukham na prāpnuvanti | manuṣyaḥ krameṇa sukha-duḥkhe ubhe bhuṅkte |
Вайшампаяна сказал: «О могучерукий Юдхиштхира, лучший среди праведных, внемли моим словам. В этом мире те, кто не совершал тапаса — подвига воздержания и самодисциплины, — не достигают великого счастья. Человек же, по череде времени, попеременно вкушает и радость, и скорбь».
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Great and stable well-being is linked to tapas—disciplined self-restraint and sustained effort. Without such inner discipline, one does not reach ‘mahatsukha’; and in ordinary life one must be prepared to meet both happiness and sorrow as alternating experiences.
Vaiśaṃpāyana addresses Yudhiṣṭhira directly, offering moral instruction. He frames the teaching as counsel to a dharma-minded king: accept the alternation of joy and grief, and recognize austerity/self-discipline as a necessary means for higher happiness.