Shloka 14
Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Inquiry and Sañjaya’s Etymologies of Kṛṣṇa’s Names
Puruṣottama-nāma-nirvacana
यमस्य वशमायान्ति काममूढा: पुनः पुन: । अन्धनेत्रा यथैवान्धा नीयमाना: स्वकर्मभि:
yamasya vaśam āyānti kāmamūḍhāḥ punaḥ punaḥ | andhanetrā yathaivāndhā nīyamānāḥ svakarmabhiḥ ||
Vyāsa sprach: Wer vom Begehren verblendet ist, fällt immer wieder unter die Herrschaft Yamas (des Todes). Wie Blinde, die von Blinden geführt werden, werden sie von ihren eigenen Taten vorangetrieben und geraten aufs Neue in die Macht des Todes—denn ihr Geist ist durch Gier und Verwirrung gebunden, nicht durch Einsicht und Selbstzucht geleitet.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Desire-driven delusion makes a person repeatedly reap painful consequences: one becomes governed by one’s own karma and thus repeatedly falls under Yama’s dominion. The verse urges discernment and restraint instead of being carried by craving.
Vyāsa is instructing (in the Udyoga Parva context of counsel before the great war) by warning that those who are intoxicated by desire and lack clear moral vision behave like blind people led by blind guides, and their actions keep dragging them into repeated ruin and death.