Shloka 25
द्रोण–धृष्टद्युम्नयुद्धवर्णनम्
Drona–Dhrishtadyumna Battle Description
अयज्वानमदाक्षिण्यं मा पुत्रमनुतप्यथा: । सूंजय! चारों कल्याणकारी गुणोंमें वे तुमसे श्रेष्ठ और तुम्हारे पुत्रसे अधिक पुण्यात्मा हैं। अतः तुम यज्ञानुष्ठान और दान-दक्षिणासे रहित अपने पुत्रके लिये शोक न करो ।। २४ $ई || एते चतुर्भद्रतरास्त्वया भद्रशताधिका: । मृता नरवरश्रेष्ठ मरिष्यन्ति च सृूजजय,नरश्रेष्ठ संजय! अबतक जिन लोगोंका वर्णन किया गया है, ये चतुर्विध कल्याणकारी गुणोंमें तो तुमसे बढ़कर थे ही, तुम्हारी अपेक्षा उनमें सैकड़ों मंगलकारी गुण अधिक भी थे; तथापि वे मर गये और जो विद्यमान हैं, वे भी मरेंगे ही
nārada uvāca |
ayajvānām adākṣiṇyaṃ mā putram anutapyathāḥ |
saṃjaya! cāroṃ kalyāṇakārī guṇoṃ meṃ ve tumse śreṣṭha aur tumhāre putrase adhika puṇyātmā haiṃ | ataḥ tuma yajñānuṣṭhāna aura dāna-dakṣiṇāse rahita apane putrake liye śoka na karo ||
ete caturbhadratarās tvayā bhadraśatādhikāḥ |
mṛtā naravarśreṣṭha mariṣyanti ca saṃjaya ||
Nārada said: “Do not grieve for your son, who was without sacrifice and without dakṣiṇā, the priestly gifts. O Saṃjaya, those men were superior to you in the fourfold auspicious virtues, and were more meritorious than your son. Therefore, do not lament for your son who lacked the performance of sacrifice and the practice of charity with due gifts. Even those described earlier—men more auspicious than you, endowed with hundreds of virtues beyond yours—have died, O best of men. And those who are alive now will also surely die, O Saṃjaya.”
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
Nārada teaches two linked points: (1) grief should be tempered by the universal law of mortality—great and virtuous people have died and all living beings will die; (2) ethical and ritual duties such as yajña, dāna, and dakṣiṇā are markers of merit, so lamenting excessively for one who neglected these duties is misplaced.
Nārada addresses Saṃjaya to console him. He discourages Saṃjaya from mourning his son, emphasizing that even men far more virtuous have already perished, and that death is inevitable for all who remain alive.