Shloka 33

जनक–सुलभा संवादः

Janaka–Sulabhā Dialogue on Mokṣa and Non-attachment

Devanagari script

न देयमेतच्च तथानृतात्मने शठाय क्लीबाय न जिद्दाबुद्धये । न पण्डितज्ञानपरोपतापिने देयं तु देयं च निबोध यादृशे,असत्यवादी, शठ, नीच, कपटी, अपनेको पण्डित माननेवाले और दूसरेको कष्ट पहुँचानेवाले मनुष्यको भी इसका उपदेश नहीं देना चाहिये। कैसे पुरुषको इस ज्ञानका उपदेश देना और अवश्य देना चाहिये--यह भी सुन लो

Transliteration

na deyam etac ca tathānṛtātmane śaṭhāya klībāya na jiddhābuddhaye | na paṇḍitajñānaparopatāpinae deyaṃ tu deyaṃ ca nibodha yādṛśe || asatyavādī, śaṭha, nīca, kapaṭī, āpne ko paṇḍit mānne-vāle aur dūsre ko kaṣṭa pahuṃcāne-vāle manuṣya ko bhī is kā upadeś nahīṃ denā cāhiye | kaise puruṣ ko is jñān kā upadeś denā aur avaśya denā cāhiye—yah bhī sun lo ||

Translation

वसिष्ठ उवाच—नैतद् अनृतात्मने देयं, न शठाय, न क्लीबाय, न विपर्यस्तबुद्धये। न च पण्डितज्ञानपरोऽन्योपतापिने देयम्। देयं तु—निबोध—यादृशे पात्रेऽस्योपदेशः स्यात्।

Word by Word

• {'na deyam': 'should not be given', 'etat': 'this (teaching/knowledge)', 'tathānṛta-ātmane': 'to one whose very self/nature is false

• one of false disposition', 'śaṭha': 'deceitful, crafty', 'klība': 'weak, unmanly in courage

• lacking firmness of will (contextual sense)', 'buddhi': 'intellect, understanding', 'jiddhā-buddhaye': 'to one with distorted/perverse understanding (reading uncertain in the printed form)', 'paṇḍita': 'learned person, scholar', 'jñāna': 'knowledge (here, liberating/ethical-spiritual instruction)', 'para-upatāpin': 'one who torments/harms others', 'deyam tu deyam': 'but it should be given—indeed it should be given', 'nibodha': 'understand

• listen attentively', 'yādṛśe': 'to what kind (of person)'}

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vasiṣṭha

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Sacred or liberating instruction should be transmitted with discernment: it is withheld from those who are deceitful, false, hypocritical, harmful to others, or lacking steadiness and right understanding; the teacher must consider the recipient’s character and ethical fitness.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, Vasiṣṭha lays down a rule for teaching: he lists unfit recipients of the doctrine and then signals that he will next describe the qualities of a worthy student to whom the knowledge should certainly be given.