History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c18.10.8

v2.c18.10.8

56) that the natural proclivity of all beings is to hanker after the satisfaction of the common and lower desires of hunger, thirst and sexual gratification and therefore no stress is to be placed on them but on the cessation or curbing of these. The Upaniṣads²³ recognise the distinction between what is beneficial (*hita*) and what is most beneficial (*hitatama*). Śāntiparva (288. 20 and 330. 13) declares that what conduces to the greatest good of beings is 'satya.'