Shloka 9
शकुनि (हिरण्मय-पक्षी) उपदेशः — Vighasāśin and the Difficulty of Gārhasthya
शकुनिरुवाच यदि मां नाभिशंकध्वं विभज्यात्मानमात्मना | ततोऊहं व: प्रवक्ष्यामि याथातथ्यं हितं॑ वच:
śakunir uvāca yadi māṁ nābhiśaṅkadhvaṁ vibhajyātmānam ātmanā | tato ’haṁ vaḥ pravakṣyāmi yāthātathyaṁ hitaṁ vacaḥ ||
Śakuni said: “If you do not suspect me, then—dividing myself within myself, as it were—I shall speak to you words that are beneficial and true to the facts.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Speech should be both truthful (yāthātathyam) and beneficial (hitam). The verse frames ethical counsel as requiring trust and a commitment to state matters as they really are, not merely what is pleasing.
Śakuni asks his listeners not to doubt his motives; he promises to speak a statement that is accurate and intended for their good, presenting himself as a counselor offering frank guidance.