यस्मिन्यस्मिंस्तु विषये यॊ यॊ याति विनिश्चयम् ।
स तमेवाभिजानाति नान्यं भरतसत्तम ॥
यथा यथा च पर्येति लोकतन्त्रमसारवत् ।
तथा तथा विरागोऽत्र जायते नात्र संशयः ॥
एवं व्यवसिते लोके बहुदोषे युधिष्ठिर ।
आत्ममोक्षनिमित्तं वै यतेत मतिमान्नरः ॥
yasmin yasmiṁs tu viṣaye yo yo yāti viniścayam |
sa tam evābhijānāti nānyaṁ bharata-sattama ||
yathā yathā ca paryeti loka-tantram asāravat |
tathā tathā virāgo’tra jāyate nātra saṁśayaḥ ||
evaṁ vyavasite loke bahu-doṣe yudhiṣṭhira |
ātma-mokṣa-nimittaṁ vai yateta matimān naraḥ ||
(Mahābhārata: 12.175.3–5)
“Whatever firm resolve one acquires in regard to whatever object—that alone one understands [to be truly beneficial], and not anything else, O best of the Bharatas. As far as one maturely recognizes [i.e., deliberates upon and thereby understands] the intrinsic nature of the world to be essenceless, so far detachment towards it arises. Of this there is no doubt. When the world is thus determined to be possessed of numerous defects, O Yudhiṣṭhra, an intelligent person shall certainly endeavor for the sake of liberation of the self.”
Commentary
Nīlakaṇṭha Sūri comments in his Bhārata-bhāva-dīpa that people acquire firm resolve in regard to objects of desire within saṁsāra like Svarga, children, and so on because of the education they receive, the desires that that education inspires, and the saṁskāras formed in the psyche thereby (vidyā-tad-icchā-citta-saṁskāra-Svarga-putrādi-kāmeṣu yasmin viṣayeṣu …). Sober, mature reflection on the nature of these objects purifies the psyche of these saṁskāras and the desires they perpetuate (paryeti paryālocayati tenaiva dvāreṇa citta-śuddhau …). When the psyche thereby becomes purified, then one can recognize these apparently desirable objects to be essenceless, that is, as insignificant as straw and the like (citta-śuddhau satyām asāraṁ tṛṇādi tadvat tuccham). Thus, it is only by soberly and maturely deliberating on the nature of sāṁsārika objects of desire that one can understand the whole of saṁsāra, including all of the planes within it up to Satyaloka (loke sthāvarādi-Satyaloka-paryante), to be beset with defects, such as perishability and disparity in the distribution of wealth (bahu-doṣe aiśvarya-tāratamya-kṣayiṣṇutvādi-doṣa-bahule), and therefore incapable of ever giving rise to an experience of true fulfillment for anyone. When detachment (vairāgya) thus emerges as a result of the certainty produced by perception of these defects (doṣa-darśana-niścayena vairāgye sati …), then an intelligent person shall resolutely strive to attain mokṣa instead of pursuing anything within the realm of saṁsāra.