Shloka 12
Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)
मानसानां पुनर्योनिर्दु:खानां चित्तविभ्रम: | अनिष्टोपनिपातो वा तृतीयं नोपपद्यते
mānasānāṃ punar yonir duḥkhānāṃ cittavibhramaḥ | aniṣṭopanipāto vā tṛtīyaṃ nopapadyate ||
Janaka nói: “Với con người, nguồn gốc tái diễn của khổ tâm chỉ có hai: hoặc mê lầm, tâm trí rối loạn; hoặc điều không mong muốn ập đến. Không thể có nguyên nhân thứ ba.”
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Janaka reduces mental suffering to two roots: inner confusion of the mind (cittavibhrama) and the external impact of unwanted events (aniṣṭopanipāta). The ethical implication is that clarity, discipline, and right understanding address the first, while steadiness and detachment help one endure the second.
In the Shanti Parva’s reflective instruction, King Janaka speaks as a teacher of inner wisdom, presenting a concise analysis of why people repeatedly experience mental distress, emphasizing that the causes can be exhaustively classified into these two.