Mahabharata 3.2.35 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 2, Shloka 35

ब्राह्मणानुयात्रा—शौनकोपदेशः

Brāhmaṇas Follow into Exile and Śaunaka’s Instruction

Devanagari script

तृष्णा हि सर्वपापिष्ठा नित्योद्वेगकरी स्मृता । अधर्मबहुला चैव घोरा पापानुबन्धिनी

Transliteration

tṛṣṇā hi sarvapāpiṣṭhā nityodvegakarī smṛtā | adharmabahulā caiva ghorā pāpānubandhinī ||

Translation

Vaiśaṃpāyana nói: “Khát ái (tṛṣṇā) được nhớ như điều tội lỗi nhất trong mọi tội, vì nó không ngừng sinh ra xao động. Nó phần nhiều dẫn đến adharma, và đáng sợ trong sức mạnh của mình, nó trói buộc con người vào hậu quả của tội lỗi.”

Word by Word

• तृष्णा: craving, thirst (desire)
• तृष्णा: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: तृष्णा
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• हि: indeed, for
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: हि

• सर्वपापिष्ठा: the most sinful of all
• सर्वपापिष्ठा: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्वपापिष्ठा
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• नित्योद्वेगकरी: causing constant agitation
• नित्योद्वेगकरी: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: नित्योद्वेगकरी
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• स्मृता: is said/remembered (as)
• Type: Verb
• Root: स्मृ (धातु)
• Form: क्त, Passive (past participle), Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• अधर्मबहुला: abounding in unrighteousness
• अधर्मबहुला: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अधर्मबहुला
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• एव: indeed, just
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• घोरा: terrible, dreadful
• घोरा: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: घोर
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• पापानुबन्धिनी: leading to/bringing about sin (having sin as its consequence)
• पापानुबन्धिनी: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पापानुबन्धिनी
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Insatiable craving (tṛṣṇā) is portrayed as a prime inner cause of sin: it generates continual mental unrest, multiplies adharma, and entangles a person in harmful karmic consequences.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana, in a didactic passage, characterizes tṛṣṇā as a destructive force in human conduct—linking desire-driven agitation to unethical action and subsequent bondage to sin.