Shloka 20
भिक्षुलक्षणम्—एकचर्याः, अहिंसा, कैवल्याश्रमः
Marks of the Mendicant: Solitary Wandering, Non-Injury, and the Kaivalya-Discipline
प्रवक्तृणि द्वयान्याहुरात्मज्ञानीतराणि च । आत्मज्ञानि विशिष्टानि जन्माजन्मोपधारणात्
pravaktṝṇi dvayāny āhur ātmajñānītarāṇi ca | ātmajñāni viśiṣṭāni janmājanmopadhāraṇāt ||
Sinabi ni Vyāsa: “Ang mga guro ay sinasabing may dalawang uri—yaong nakakakilala sa Sarili (Ātman) at yaong hindi. Sa kanila, higit na dakila ang mga nakakakilala sa Sarili, sapagkat nauunawaan nila ang simulain sa likod ng kapanganakan at muling kapanganakan (at kaya pati ang pagdaan sa kamatayan).”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
True authority in teaching is grounded in ātma-jñāna (knowledge of the Self). Such a teacher is ‘superior’ because they understand the deeper law behind birth, rebirth, and death, and can therefore guide others toward liberation-oriented insight rather than merely worldly instruction.
In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa classifies instructors into two categories—Self-knowers and non-Self-knowers—and establishes a hierarchy of spiritual competence, emphasizing that insight into the cycle of birth (and its transcendence) is the mark of the highest teacher.