Shloka 4
अौर्ध्वदेहिक-श्राद्धे दानयज्ञविस्तारः | Expansion of the Aurdhvadehika Śrāddha and the Donation-Rite
सुखा: स हि राजर्षिरसुखी तद् वनं महत् | किमवस्थ: समासाद्य प्रज्ञाचक्षुर्हतात्मज:
sukhāḥ sa hi rājarṣir asukhī tad vanaṁ mahat | kim-avasthaḥ samāsādya prajñā-cakṣur hata-ātmajaḥ |
Vaiśampāyana said: “That royal sage—though fit to enjoy comforts—became joyless. Having lost all his sons, and being one whose ‘eyes’ were wisdom, in what condition did Dhṛtarāṣṭra go to that vast forest, and how did he pass his days in sorrow?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even those surrounded by royal comforts are not protected from sorrow; when attachment (especially to lineage and power) collapses, the mind is driven toward renunciation. The verse highlights impermanence and the ethical weight of the war’s aftermath, pointing to inner vision (prajñā) as the only true refuge amid loss.
Vaiśampāyana describes Dhṛtarāṣṭra after the Kurukṣetra catastrophe: though a royal sage with the capacity for comfort, he is rendered joyless by the death of his sons and goes to the great forest. The line frames a reflective question about the condition in which he lived there, setting the tone for the Ashramavāsika account of withdrawal to the forest.