Shloka 22
राजधर्मः—राष्ट्ररक्षणं, दण्डनीतिः, हयग्रीवोपाख्यानम्
Royal Duty: Protection, Penal Policy, and the Hayagrīva Exemplum
दुःखमेवास्ति न सुखं तस्मात् तदुपलभ्यते । तृष्णार्तिप्रभवं दुःखं दुःखार्तिप्रभवं सुखम्
duḥkham evāsti na sukhaṃ tasmāt tad upalabhyate | tṛṣṇārtiprabhavaṃ duḥkhaṃ duḥkhārtiprabhavaṃ sukham ||
毗耶娑说道：“在世间生存中，唯有苦，并无真实之乐；因此真正遭遇到的只是苦。苦起于贪欲所生之痛；而所谓‘乐’，起于苦之痛——当人被苦恼逼迫之后，仅仅是那苦的止息，便被体验为快乐。”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse argues that in saṃsāra what people call ‘happiness’ is mostly relief: craving (tṛṣṇā) produces distress and suffering, and when suffering subsides one mistakes that cessation for happiness. Ethically, it points toward reducing craving and cultivating detachment as a path to steadier well-being.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and right living after the war, Vyāsa delivers a reflective teaching on the nature of worldly experience, analyzing why beings repeatedly encounter suffering and why ordinary happiness is often only the temporary easing of pain.