Shloka 23
Śuka–Janaka Saṃvāda: Āśrama-krama, Jñāna-vijñāna, and the Marks of Liberation (शुक-जनक संवादः)
परितापो5भिहरणं हीनाशो5नार्जवं तथा । भेद: परुषता चैव काम: क्रोधो मदस्तथा
yājñavalkya uvāca | paritāpo 'bhiharaṇaṃ hīnāśo 'nārjavaṃ tathā | bhedaḥ paruṣatā caiva kāmaḥ krodho madas tathā |
Yājñavalkya said: “Tormenting agitation, seizing what belongs to others, mean-spiritedness, and crookedness; creating divisions, harshness of speech and conduct, and likewise desire, anger, and intoxicated pride—these are declared to be the workings of rajas. Such impulses drive a person outward into conflict, grasping, and contention, obscuring discernment and weakening ethical restraint.”
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies a cluster of rājasic traits—agitation, appropriation, deceit, divisiveness, harshness, desire, anger, and pride—as ethical-psychological forces that propel one toward conflict and moral decline; recognizing them is the first step toward restraint and purification.
In the Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, the sage Yājñavalkya is instructing about the guṇas by enumerating the behaviors that arise from rajas, preparing the listener to distinguish these from other dispositions (such as tamas and sattva) in moral self-assessment.