It appears in the Udyoga Parva (book), and is composed of five chapters (Adhyāya 41–46).
Buitenen wrote that "The Sānatsujātiya had a minor reputation as a philosophical classic....
[2] He also wrote that The Sānatsujātiya should probably be best approached as a brief, late-upaniṣadic text that very early attracted to itself, by way of appendix, commentary, and continuation, other texts that were considered to be of the same inspiration.... Its core seems to be the triṣṭubh verses of the beginning, in which the problem of death is addressed.
It ends with a mystical hymn on the manifestations of the Supreme... with the refrain: "The yogins behold the sempiternal blessed Lord."
(p. 182[2]) King Dhṛtarāṣṭra has been conversing with his half-brother Vidura, who has been responding to his requests for various kinds of counsel.