Shloka 6
Vidura Leaves Hastināpura and Meets Uddhava
Vidura’s Tīrtha-yātrā Begins
श्रीशुक उवाच यदा तु राजा स्वसुतानसाधून् पुष्णन्नधर्मेण विनष्टदृष्टि: । भ्रातुर्यविष्ठस्य सुतान् विबन्धून् प्रवेश्य लाक्षाभवने ददाह ॥ ६ ॥
śrī-śuka uvāca yadā tu rājā sva-sutān asādhūn puṣṇan na dharmeṇa vinaṣṭa-dṛṣṭiḥ bhrātur yaviṣṭhasya sutān vibandhūn praveśya lākṣā-bhavane dadāha
Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Swayed by impious desire to nourish his dishonest sons, King Dhṛtarāṣṭra lost all righteous vision and set fire to the lacquer house, seeking to burn his fatherless nephews, the Pāṇḍavas.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra was blind from birth, but his blindness in committing impious activities to support his dishonest sons was a greater blindness than his physical lack of eyesight. The physical lack of sight does not bar one from spiritual progress. But when one is blind spiritually, even though physically fit, that blindness is dangerously detrimental to the progressive path of human life.
FAQs
This verse describes how Dhṛtarāṣṭra, blinded by adharma and attachment to his wicked sons, arranged for the Pāṇḍavas (his younger brother’s sons) to be sent into a lac house and burned.
Because he upheld his own unrighteous sons and, through irreligious partiality, harmed his own relatives—showing the spiritual danger of attachment that destroys moral discernment.
It warns that favoritism and attachment can cloud judgment; dharma requires protecting truth and fairness even when it challenges family loyalty or personal interest.