Shloka 11
Arjuna’s request to Krishna and the opening of the Kāśyapa–Brāhmaṇa mokṣa discourse (Āśvamedhika-parva 16)
नूनमश्रद्दधानोसि दुर्मेधा हासि पाण्डव । न च शकक््यं पुनर्वक्तुमशेषेण धनंजय,पाण्डुनन्दन! निश्चय ही तुम बड़े श्रद्धाहीन हो, तुम्हारी बुद्धि बहुत मन्द जान पड़ती है। धनंजय! अब मैं उस उपदेशको ज्यों-का-त्यों नहीं कह सकता
nūnam aśraddadhāno 'si durmedhā hāsi pāṇḍava | na ca śakyaṃ punar vaktum aśeṣeṇa dhanaṃjaya ||
Vāyu said: “Surely you are lacking in faith, O Pāṇḍava, and your understanding seems dull. And, O Dhanañjaya, it is not possible for me to repeat that instruction again in its entirety, exactly as it was.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse stresses that spiritual or ethical instruction requires śraddhā (receptive faith) and attentive intelligence; without these, the teaching cannot be preserved or re-delivered in its full force. It also implies the responsibility of the listener: learning is not only the teacher’s act of speaking but the student’s capacity to receive and retain.
Vāyu addresses Arjuna (called Pāṇḍava/Dhanañjaya), rebuking him for seeming faithless and slow to grasp, and declares that he cannot repeat the earlier instruction completely as it was originally given—highlighting the urgency and uniqueness of the moment of teaching.