Shloka 29
अरण्यवृत्ति-वैराग्योपदेशः | Forest Discipline and the Program of Non-Attachment
वीतरागश्नरन्रेवं तुष्टिं प्राप्स्यामि शाश्वतीम् । तृष्णया हि महत् पापमज्ञानादस्मि कारित:
vītarāgaś caran evaṁ tuṣṭiṁ prāpsyāmi śāśvatīm | tṛṣṇayā hi mahat pāpam ajñānād asmi kāritaḥ ||
یُدھِشٹھِر نے کہا— “یوں بےرغبت ہو کر چلوں گا تو مجھے دائمی قناعت نصیب ہوگی۔ کیونکہ خواہش ہی—میری نادانی کے سبب—مجھ سے بڑے بڑے گناہ کروا گئی ہے۔”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Lasting peace comes from becoming vītarāga (free of attachment). Craving (tṛṣṇā), when joined with ignorance (ajñāna), becomes a powerful inner driver that leads one into grave wrongdoing; therefore ethical life requires disciplining desire through insight and detachment.
In the Śānti Parva’s reflective setting after the war, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks in a tone of remorse and self-examination. He resolves toward a detached mode of life and interprets his past moral failures as having been propelled by craving, which he now recognizes as rooted in ignorance.