मृत्युकारणप्रश्नः / Inquiry into the Cause and Designation of Death
न भवति विदुषां महद्धयं यदविदुषां सुमहद्धयं परत्र । न हि गतिरधिकास्ति कस्यचिद् भवति हि या विदुष: सनातनी
na bhavati viduṣāṁ mahad bhayaṁ yad aviduṣāṁ su-mahad bhayaṁ paratra | na hi gatir adhikāsti kasyacid bhavati hi yā viduṣaḥ sanātanī ||
Wika ni Vyāsa: Ang malaking takot na dumarating sa mangmang tungkol sa kabilang-buhay ay hindi sumisibol sa marurunong. Sapagkat walang sinuman ang nakakamit ng landas na higit pa sa walang-hanggang hantungan na nauukol sa tunay na nakaaalam.
व्यास उवाच
Ignorance breeds anxiety about the afterlife, while true knowledge removes that fear; the knower attains an eternal destiny beyond which no higher goal is taught here.
In the instruction-heavy Shānti Parva context, Vyāsa states a reflective maxim: the ignorant tremble about what comes after death, but the wise—grounded in knowledge of dharma and the self—rest in an eternal, unsurpassed end.