Shloka 15
Sanatsujāta-Āhvāna (Summoning Sanatsujāta) — Vidura’s Invocation and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Doubt
अमूढवत्ते: पुरुषस्येह कुर्यात् कि वै मृत्युस्तार्ण इवास्य व्याघ्र: । अमन्यमान: क्षत्रिय किंचिदन्य- न्नाधीयीत निर्णुदन्निवास्य चायु:
amūḍhavatteḥ puruṣasyeha kuryāt ki vā mṛtyustārṇa ivāsya vyāghraḥ | amanyamānaḥ kṣatriya kiñcidanyan nādhīyīta nirṇudannivāsya cāyuḥ ||
Für den, dessen Regungen des Geistes nicht von Sinnengenüssen verblendet werden, welchen Schaden kann der Tod hier anrichten—wie ein Tiger aus Stroh? Darum, o Kṣatriya, wer die Unwissenheit ausrotten will, die die Wurzel weltlichen Genusses ist, soll nichts Weltliches für zählenswert halten und das Grübeln darüber aufgeben—als triebe er so Furcht und Fessel des Lebens hinweg.
सनत्युजात उवाच
Educational Q&A
Death cannot truly harm the person whose mind is not deluded by sense-objects; therefore one should abandon worldly preoccupations and work to destroy ignorance, the root cause of bondage to enjoyment and fear.
In the Sanatsujātīya section of Udyoga Parva, Sanatsujāta instructs the ruler (addressed as kṣatriya) on overcoming fear of death through inner clarity and detachment, using the image of a straw tiger to show Death’s powerlessness over the undeluded.