Shloka 28

अध्याय ३३ — कर्म, दैव, हठ, स्वभाव और पुरुषार्थ पर द्रौपदी का उपदेश

Draupadī on Action, Fate, and Human Effort

Devanagari script

तस्माद्‌ धर्मार्थयोर्नित्यं न प्रमाद्यन्ति पण्डिता: । प्रकृति: सा हि कामस्य पावकस्यारणिरयथा,“इसलिये विद्वान्‌ पुरुष कभी धर्म और अर्थके सम्पादनमें प्रमाद नहीं करते हैं। धर्म और अर्थ कामकी उत्पक्तिके स्थान हैं (अर्थात्‌ धर्म और अर्थसे ही कामकी सिद्धि होती है) जैसे अरणि अग्निका उत्पत्तिस्थान है

Transliteration

tasmād dharmārthayor nityaṃ na pramādyanti paṇḍitāḥ | prakṛtiḥ sā hi kāmasya pāvakasyāraṇir yathā ||

Translation

Vì thế, bậc trí giả không bao giờ lơ là trong việc bền bỉ theo đuổi và gìn giữ dharma cùng artha. Bởi dharma và artha chính là nguồn phát sinh của kāma—như araṇi (dụng cụ khoan lửa) là nơi lửa được sinh ra.

Word by Word

• {'tasmāt': 'therefore

• for that reason', 'dharma': 'righteous duty

• right conduct', 'artha': 'material welfare

• polity', 'nityam': 'always

• continually', 'na': 'not', 'pramādyanti': 'are negligent

• lapse in attention', 'paṇḍitāḥ': 'the wise

• learned persons', 'prakṛtiḥ': 'source

• natural cause', 'sā': 'that (feminine), referring to dharma-artha as the source', 'hi': 'indeed

• for', 'kāmasya': 'of kāma

• of desire/pleasure', 'pāvakasya': 'of fire

• of the flame', 'araṇiḥ': 'araṇi, the fire-stick/fire-drill used to kindle fire', 'yathā': 'just as

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• dharma
• artha
• kāma
• pāvaka (fire)
• araṇi (fire-drill)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

One should not be careless about dharma and artha, because they are the foundation that makes kāma attainable in a proper, sustainable way; desire divorced from dharma-artha lacks a stable source, like fire without an araṇi.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana continues a didactic explanation, drawing an analogy (araṇi producing fire) to stress that wise people remain vigilant in cultivating dharma and artha, since these generate and regulate kāma.