Shloka 31

Adhyāya 262: Śabda-brahman, Para-brahman, and the Ethics of Tyāga

Kapila–Syūmaraśmi Saṃvāda

Devanagari script

आवृत्तिस्तस्य चैकस्थ नास्त्यावृत्तिर्मनीषिण: । उभौ तौ देवयानेन गच्छतो जाजले यथा

Transliteration

āvṛttis tasya caikastha nāsty āvṛttir manīṣiṇaḥ | ubhau tau devayānena gacchato jājale yathā ||

Translation

丘陀达罗说道：“贪著欲望者，确有回返——在此世再受生；而智者于此不复回返。虽二者同循天道而至功德之界，然由内在誓愿与意向之差别，决定其或复来、或得不还——正如你之情形，阇阇利。”

Word by Word

• {'āvṛttiḥ': 'return

• rebirth', 'tasya': 'of that person (i.e., the desire-attached one)', 'ca': 'and

• indeed', 'ekastha': 'O one standing alone / O solitary one (vocative address)', 'nāsti': 'there is not', 'manīṣiṇaḥ': 'of the wise person

• of the discerning sage', 'ubhau': 'both', 'tau': 'those two', 'devayānena': 'by the devayāna, the ‘divine path’ (path leading upward to higher worlds/liberation)', 'gacchataḥ': 'they two go

• they proceed', 'yathā': 'as

• just as', 'jājale': 'O Jājali (vocative)'}

Speaker

चुलाधार उवाच

Characters & Entities

• चुलाधार (Chūḍādhāra)
• जाजलि (Jājali)
• देवयान (Devayāna)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Attachment to desires leads to āvṛtti—return to worldly birth—whereas the wise (manīṣin), free from such clinging, attains anāvṛtti (non-return). Even if both reach higher worlds via the devayāna, the decisive factor is the inner saṅkalpa (intention/resolve): desire-bound merit returns; wisdom-oriented realization does not.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shānti Parva’s instruction to Jājali, Chūḍādhāra contrasts two spiritual outcomes. He addresses Jājali directly, explaining that similar outward religious attainment (going by the ‘divine path’) can yield different results depending on one’s inner orientation—desire-driven versus discerning and detached.