Shloka 3
॥! _ 8 ५) 0 ५. 735 १ 0 5 २५ [७-7 865 न सन्तीमे धार्तराष्ट्रा येषां त्वमनुशासिता । भविष्यमर्थमाख्यासि सर्वदा कृत्यमात्मन:
na santīme dhārtarāṣṭrā yeṣāṃ tvam anuśāsitā | bhaviṣyam artham ākhyāsi sarvadā kṛtyam ātmanaḥ ||
Duryodhana said: “Those who are under your governance are scarcely ‘Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons’ at all—so completely are they held in check by your control. And you keep postponing what should be done now, always shifting your own duty onto some future time.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse critiques evasion of responsibility: a leader (or adviser) who continually defers present duty by appealing to the future undermines agency and weakens those he governs. Ethical governance requires timely action aligned with duty (kṛtya), not perpetual postponement.
Duryodhana speaks in frustration, accusing the addressee (a controlling authority/elder-counsel figure) of so tightly directing the Kaurava side that they scarcely act as independent ‘Dhṛtarāṣṭras,’ and of repeatedly delaying necessary action by invoking future considerations.