na hṛṣyaty ātma-sammāne nāvamānena tapyate |
gāṅgo hrada ivākṣobhyo yaḥ sa paṇḍita ucyate ||
(Mahābhārata: Udyoga-parva, Vidura-nīti, 27)
“One who does not delight in praise of oneself, is not troubled by dishonor, and is imperturbable like a lagoon on the Gaṅgā is said to be a wise person (paṇḍita).”
duḥkham evāsti na sukhaṁ tasmāt tad upalabhyate |
tṛṣṇārti-prabhavaṁ duḥkhaṁ duḥkhārti-prabhavaṁ sukham ||
sukhasyānantaraṁ duḥkhaṁ duḥkhasyānantaraṁ sukham |
na nityaṁ labhate duḥkhaṁ na nityaṁ labhate sukham ||
(Mahābhārata: 12.26.22–23)
“Suffering alone exists, not happiness. Thus, that [i.e., suffering] is experienced. Suffering is that the cause of which is the distress of desire, and happiness is that the cause of which is the distress of suffering. After happiness there is suffering, and after suffering there is happiness. Suffering is never permanently attained, and happiness is never permanently attained.”
na hāyanair na palitair na vittena na bandhubhiḥ |
ṛṣayaś cakrire dharmaṁ yo’nūcānaḥ sa no mahān ||
(Mahābhārata: 9.50.47; Manu-smṛti: 2.154)
“[The youthful Sārasvata Muni says to an assembly of elder ṛṣis who had requested him to teach them the Vedas after they had neglected to study them for many years during a prolonged famine and thus forgotten how to recite the Vedas in full and proper completion:] Neither by years, nor by grey hairs, nor by wealth, nor by relations have ṛṣis performed dharma. One who is devoted to learning [i.e., one who is well-versed in the śāstra so as to be able to read, repeat, and teach it to others] is the great one amongst us [i.e., a ṛṣi’s performance of dharma is constituted principally of learning, understanding, and teaching the śāstra].”
yo hy adharmeṇa vibrūyād gṛhṇīyād vāpy adharmataḥ |
hīyetāṁ tāv ubhau kṣipraṁ syātāṁ vā vairiṇāv ubhau ||
(Mahābhārata: 9.50.46)
“One who shall teach undharmicly [i.e., without accepting the student as a disciple] and one who shall acquire [knowledge] undharmicly [i.e., without acceptance of discipleship to the teacher]—both shall quickly abandon one another or become enemies of one another.”
śāstraṁ hy abuddhvā tattvena kecid vāda-balāj janāḥ |
kāma-dveṣābhibhūtatvād ahaṅkāra-vaśaṁ gatāḥ ||
yāthātathyam avijñāya śāstrāṇāṁ śāstra-dasyavaḥ |
brahma-stenā nirārambhā dambha-moha-vaśānugāḥ ||
(Mahābhārata: Śānti-parva, 269.53)
“Not understanding śāstra accurately, some persons become captivated by arrogance (ahaṅkāra) on account of being overcome by desire or enmity on the strength of argument. Without knowing the truth of the śāstras, the robbers of the śāstras—thieves of Brahman—controlled by deceit and delusion, remain without undertaking [i.e., they do not take up the practices taught in the śāstras beginning with equanimity and so on].”
yesāṁ śāstrānugā buddhir na te muhyanti bhārata |
(Mahābhārata: 1.1.84)
“[Sañjaya to Dhṛtarāṣṭra:] Those whose intellect (buddhi) is not adherent to śāstra become deluded, O Bhārata.”
Bhārata Sāvitrī
Śrī Vedavyāsa’s final message to humanity in Mahābhārata.
Excerpted from the Svargārohana Parva, 5.47–51.
jñāna-pūrvā bhavel lipsā lipsā-pūrvābhisandhitā |
abhisandhi-pūrvakaṁ karma karma-mūlaṁ tataḥ phalam ||
(Mahābhārata: Śānti-parva, 206.6)
“Desire [for an object] shall be preceded by knowledge [of the object], aim [for an object] preceded by desire [for it], and action [to attain it] preceded by the aim [for it]. Then the result, the basis of which is the action, occurs.”
prathamaṁ varjayed doṣān yugapat pṛthag eva vā |
tathā dharmam avāpnoti doṣa-tyāgo hi duṣkaraḥ |
doṣa-sākalya-santyāgān munir bhavati mānavaḥ ||
duṣkṛta-tyāga-mātreṇa padam ūrdhvaṁ hi labhyate |
(Mahābhārata: 13.232.5, 8)
“First, one should give up faults, all at once or just one by one. Then, one achieves dharma. Giving up faults [however] is certainly difficult to do. [Yet] By completely giving up faults in totality, a human being becomes a sage. … Just by giving up misconduct, a higher standing is attained.”
mahābhūtāny ahaṁkāro buddhir avyaktam eva ca |
indriyāṇi daśaikaṁ ca pañca cendriya-gocarāḥ ||
icchā dveṣaḥ sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ saṁghātaś cetanā dhṛtiḥ |
etat kṣetraṁ samāsena sa-vikāram udāhṛtam ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 13.5-6)
“The [five] gross elements (mahābhūtas), the ego (ahaṅkāra), the intellect (buddhi), the unmanifested [i.e., prakṛti], the ten senses and the one [additional one], the five objects of the senses, desire, aversion, happiness, suffering, the aggregate [i.e., the body], consciousness, and resolution—this in sum is said to be the field (kṣetra) along with its transformations.”
