Shloka 15
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
वस्त्राणि चान्यानि बहुन्यभिमन्यत्यबुद्धिमान् । भोजनानि विचित्राणि रत्नानि विविधानि च
vasistha uvāca | vastrāṇi cānyāni bahūny abhimanyaty abuddhimān | bhojanāni vicitrāṇi ratnāni vividhāni ca |
婆悉吒说道：“愚人以拥有许多种衣服而自矜；他追逐繁复多样的美食，又以各色珠宝装饰其身——把这些外在的占有误作真正的价值与安乐。”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
External luxuries—fine clothes, rich foods, and jewels—can inflate pride and delusion. Vasiṣṭha highlights that such possessions are not the measure of true good; discernment and inner virtue are.
In a didactic passage of the Śānti Parva, Vasiṣṭha is instructing by pointing to the behavior of an undiscerning person who chases and boasts of sensory enjoyments and adornments, implying a moral critique and urging a higher standard of value.