Shloka 38
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 28: Dharmādharmalakṣaṇa in Āpad
Crisis-Discernment of Right and Wrong
त॑ चेत् तदा ते सकुमारवृद्धा अवारयिष्यन् कुरव: समेता: । मम प्रियं धृतराष्ट्रो5करिष्यत् पुत्राणां च कृतमस्याभविष्यत्,यदि बालकसे लेकर बूढ़ेतक सभी कौरव उस समय दुःशासनको रोक देते तो राजा धृतराष्ट्र मेरा अत्यन्त प्रिय कार्य करते तथा उनके पुत्रोंका भी प्रिय मनोरथ सिद्ध हो जाता
tac cet tadā te sakumāra-vṛddhā avārayiṣyan kuravaḥ sametāḥ | mama priyaṃ dhṛtarāṣṭro ’kariṣyat putrāṇāṃ ca kṛtam asyābhaviṣyat |
Vāyu sprach: „Wenn damals alle Kurus—Knaben wie Greise—zusammengekommen wären und ihn zurückgehalten hätten, dann hätte König Dhṛtarāṣṭra das getan, was mir am liebsten ist; und auch der gehegte Wunsch seiner Söhne wäre in Erfüllung gegangen.“
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights collective moral responsibility: when wrongdoing arises, both elders and youths must act together to restrain it. Failure to intervene enables harm and blocks outcomes that could have benefited even the wrongdoer’s own side.
Vāyu addresses a counterfactual: had the assembled Kurus—across generations—stopped the offending action/person in time, Dhṛtarāṣṭra would have performed an act pleasing to Vāyu, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons would have achieved their desired objective. The emphasis is on missed restraint and its consequences.