Shloka 2

Vasiṣṭha on Saṃsāra, Guṇas, and Misattributed Agency

Mahābhārata 12.292

Devanagari script

गौरवेण परित्यक्तं नि:स्नेहं परिवर्जयेत्‌ । सोदर्य भ्रातरमपि किमुतान्यं पृथग्जनम्‌

Transliteration

gauraveṇa parityaktaṁ niḥsnehaṁ parivarjayet | sodaryā bhrātaram api kim utānyaṁ pṛthagjanam ||

Translation

ผู้ใดทอดทิ้งด้วยความดูหมิ่นและไร้ซึ่งความรัก ควรหลีกห่างผู้นั้น แม้พี่น้องร่วมครรภ์ยังพึงละได้ในกรณีเช่นนี้ แล้วคนอื่นผู้ไม่เกี่ยวข้องจะกล่าวไปไย

Word by Word

गौरवेणby respect / out of deference

परित्यक्तम्abandoned, forsaken

नि:स्नेहम्devoid of affection

परिवर्जयेत्should avoid / should shun

सोदर्यuterine / born of the same mother

भ्रातरम्brother

अपिeven

किम्how much more? / what then?

उतindeed / and

अन्यम्another (person)

पृथक्separate, distinct

जनम्person, people

Speaker

पराशर उवाच

Characters & Entities

प

पराशर (Parāśara)

स

सहोदरी भ्राता (uterine brother)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Do not cling to relationships that are marked by contempt and absence of affection; self-respect and ethical discernment may require distancing oneself even from close kin, and certainly from outsiders.

What is happening in the narrative?

In a didactic passage of the Śānti Parva, the sage Parāśara delivers a moral instruction on how to respond to rejection and lovelessness, using the strong example of a uterine brother to emphasize the principle.