Shloka 37
शल्यपर्व — चतुर्विंशोऽध्यायः | Śalya Parva, Chapter 24: Disruption of Kaurava Formations and the Elephant Encirclement
प्रत्याख्याता ह[सत्कृत्य स कस्मै रोचयेद् वच: । 'जनार्दन! जिसने मूर्खतावश अपने वृद्ध पिताकी भी बात नहीं मानी और हितकी बात बतानेवाली अपनी हितैषिणी माताका भी अपमान करके उसकी आज्ञा माननेसे इनकार कर दिया, उसे दूसरे किसीकी बात क्यों रुचेगी? ।। कुलान्तकरणो व्यक्त जात एष जनार्दन
sañjaya uvāca | pratyākhyātāḥ satkṛtya sa kasmai rocayed vacaḥ | janārdana! yena mūrkhatāvaśaṃ svavṛddha-pituḥ api vāk na mānitā, hitam vadantīṃ svahitaiṣiṇīṃ mātaraṃ ca apamānya tasyā ājñā-mānanāt nivṛttaḥ, tasya anyasya kasya vā vāk kathaṃ rociṣyate? | kulānta-karaṇo vyaktaḥ jāta eṣa janārdana ||
Sañjaya said: “O Janārdana, if a man has already rejected counsel even when it was offered with due respect, to whom will he ever find anyone’s words agreeable? He who, out of folly, would not heed even the speech of his aged father, and who insulted his well-wishing mother that spoke for his good and refused to obey her command—why would he relish the advice of anyone else? Clearly, O Janārdana, this man has been born as a manifest destroyer of his own lineage.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
A person who disregards the well-intentioned guidance of those closest and most authoritative—especially parents—becomes unreceptive to any counsel. Such obstinate folly is portrayed as ethically destructive, leading not only to personal downfall but also to harm to one’s family and lineage.
Sañjaya addresses Kṛṣṇa (Janārdana), commenting on a figure whose character is marked by rejecting respectful advice. He underscores that someone who would not heed even an aged father and a well-wishing mother will not accept anyone else’s words, and he brands such a person as a clear cause of familial ruin.