Shloka 746
त्वं हि मे सर्पिषेवाग्निमुद्दीपपसि संजय । युद्धभूमिमें शोभा पानेवाले भयंकर पराक्रमी अपने ताऊ देवव्रत भीष्मको मारा गया सुनकर मेरे हृदयमें शान्ति नहीं रह गयी है। उनके मारे जानेसे मेरे पुत्रोंकी जो हानि होनेवाली है, उसके कारण मेरे मनमें भारी व्यथा जाग उठी है। संजय! तुम अपने वचनरूपी घृतकी आहुति डालकर मेरी उस चिन्ता एवं व्यथारूपी अग्निको और भी उद्दीप्त कर रहे हो
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | tvaṃ hi me sarpiṣevāgnim uddīpayasi saṃjaya | yuddhabhūmau śobhāpāṇḍu bhayaṅkara-parākramaṃ sva-tāu devavrataṃ bhīṣmaṃ hataṃ śrutvā me hṛdaye śāntiḥ na tiṣṭhati | tasya hataḥ san mama putrāṇāṃ yā hānir bhaviṣyati tasyāḥ kāraṇāt mama manasi gurvī vyathā prabuddhā | saṃjaya, tvaṃ vacanarūpeṇa ghṛtenāhutiṃ dattvā mama cintā-vyathā-rūpām agniṃ bhūya evoddīpayasi ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Sañjaya, you are fanning my fire as ghee feeds a flame. Hearing that my formidable uncle Devavrata Bhīṣma—glorious on the battlefield—has been struck down, peace no longer remains in my heart. The thought of the loss that will now befall my sons because he has fallen has awakened a heavy anguish within me. Sañjaya, by pouring oblations of your words like clarified butter, you are only kindling still further this fire of my worry and grief.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how attachment and fear of loss intensify suffering: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s mind turns Bhīṣma’s fall into a consuming ‘fire’ of anxiety for his sons. It also shows the ethical cost of clinging to one’s side in an unrighteous war—news and narration become fuel when the heart is already bound by partiality.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra reacts to Sañjaya’s report that Bhīṣma (Devavrata), the Kuru elder and chief protector of the Kaurava army, has been struck down. He confesses that peace has left him and accuses Sañjaya’s detailed words of further inflaming his worry and anguish about the impending losses of his sons.