Shloka 20
भिक्षुलक्षणम्—एकचर्याः, अहिंसा, कैवल्याश्रमः
Marks of the Mendicant: Solitary Wandering, Non-Injury, and the Kaivalya-Discipline
प्रवक्तृणि द्वयान्याहुरात्मज्ञानीतराणि च । आत्मज्ञानि विशिष्टानि जन्माजन्मोपधारणात्
pravaktṝṇi dvayāny āhur ātmajñānītarāṇi ca | ātmajñāni viśiṣṭāni janmājanmopadhāraṇāt ||
毗耶娑说：“师者亦被称为两类——知我（阿特曼）者与不知我者。其中，知我者更为殊胜，因为他们把握了生与再生背后的根本原理（由此亦洞见穿越死亡之理）。”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
True authority in teaching is grounded in ātma-jñāna (knowledge of the Self). Such a teacher is ‘superior’ because they understand the deeper law behind birth, rebirth, and death, and can therefore guide others toward liberation-oriented insight rather than merely worldly instruction.
In the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva, Vyāsa classifies instructors into two categories—Self-knowers and non-Self-knowers—and establishes a hierarchy of spiritual competence, emphasizing that insight into the cycle of birth (and its transcendence) is the mark of the highest teacher.