Shloka 32
विदुरस्य कृष्णं प्रति शमोपदेशः
Vidura’s Counsel to Krishna on the Limits of Peace
(द्विषदन्न न भोक्तव्यं द्विषन्तं नैव भोजयेत् । पाण्डवान् द्विषसे राजन् मम प्राणा हि पाण्डवा: ।।
dviṣadannaṁ na bhoktavyaṁ dviṣantaṁ naiva bhojayet | pāṇḍavān dviṣase rājan mama prāṇā hi pāṇḍavāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana sagte: «Man soll nicht die Speise dessen essen, der Hass hegt, und man soll auch den Hassenden nicht speisen. O König, du hasst die Pāṇḍavas, und die Pāṇḍavas sind mir wie das eigene Leben. Darum ist diese ganze Tafel von dir, vom bösen Willen befleckt, nicht geeignet, dass ich davon esse. Nach meinem Urteil ist hier allein Viduras Speise würdig, von mir gegessen zu werden.»
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Food is not morally neutral: accepting hospitality from someone driven by hatred implicates one in that hostility. The verse frames eating and feeding as ethical acts, urging avoidance of relationships sustained by dveṣa (malice) and affirming loyalty to the righteous.
In the tense pre-war setting, the speaker refuses to accept the king’s hospitality because the king bears enmity toward the Pāṇḍavas, whom the speaker cherishes as his own life. He declares that only Vidura’s food is acceptable, signaling moral alignment and rejecting tainted patronage.