Shloka 13
अरण्यवृत्ति-वैराग्योपदेशः | Forest Discipline and the Program of Non-Attachment
पांसुभि: समभिच्छन्न: शून्यागारप्रतिश्रय: । वृक्षमूलनिकेतो वा त्यक्तसर्वप्रियाप्रिय:
pāṃsubhiḥ samabhicchannaḥ śūnyāgāra-pratiśrayaḥ | vṛkṣamūla-niketo vā tyakta-sarva-priyāpriyaḥ ||
گرد سے اٹا ہوا، ویران گھروں میں پناہ لیتا ہوا، یا درخت کے تلے—اسی کی جڑ کے پاس پڑا ہوا—میں پسند و ناپسند کی ہر گنتی ترک کر دوں گا۔
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches deliberate detachment: the aspirant should relinquish the inner habit of sorting experience into ‘pleasant’ and ‘unpleasant’ (priya–apriya). Ethical steadiness is strengthened by accepting austere living—dust, solitude, and minimal shelter—so that judgment and action are not driven by personal preference.
Yudhiṣṭhira speaks of withdrawing from worldly comforts and social life. He imagines living like an ascetic—taking refuge in abandoned places or under a tree—signaling a resolve to endure hardship and to abandon attachment and aversion as part of his moral and spiritual response to the circumstances being discussed in Śānti Parva.