Shloka 31
Gautama–Śakra Saṃvāda: Karma, Loka-bheda, and the Restoration of the Elephant
ये क्षन्तारो नाभिजल्पन्ति चान्यान् सत्रीभूता: सततं पुण्यशीला: । तथाविधानामेष लोको महर्षे परं गन्ता धृतराष्ट्रो न तत्र
ye kṣantāro nābhijalpanti cānyān satrībhūtāḥ satataṃ puṇyaśīlāḥ | tathāvidhānām eṣa loko maharṣe paraṃ gantā dhṛtarāṣṭro na tatra ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “O great sage, those who are forbearing, who do not speak ill of others, who have become, as it were, a perpetual public food-offering (a living ‘annasatra’), and who are ever established in merit—this world, the Soma-world, is meant for such people. But Dhṛtarāṣṭra will not go there.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse praises a cluster of dharmic virtues—patience/forbearance (kṣamā), refusal to malign others, and sustained generosity symbolized by being a living annasatra—and states that such conduct leads to a higher heavenly realm (Somaloka). It also implies that lacking these virtues obstructs that attainment.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra addresses a sage (maharṣi), describing the kind of people for whom the Soma-world is intended—those who are forgiving, refrain from speaking ill, and continually sustain others through charity—and then remarks that he himself (Dhṛtarāṣṭra) will not reach that realm.