Shloka 34

Devanagari script

छिन्ना भ्रमिव गन्तासि विलयं मारुतेरितम्‌ । लोकयोरुभयोर्भ्रष्टो हुन्तराले व्यवस्थित:,प्रभो! बड़े-बड़े यज्ञोंका अनुष्ठान, पितरोंका श्राद्ध तथा तीर्थोंमें स्नान किये बिना ही आप संन्यास ले लेंगे तो हवा-द्वारा छिन्न-भिन्न हुए बादलोंके समान नष्ट हो जायँगे। लोक और परलोक दोनोंसे भ्रष्ट होकर (त्रिशंकुके समान) बीचमें ही लटके रह जायूँगे

Transliteration

chinnā bhramir iva gantāsi vilayaṁ māruteritam | lokayor ubhayor bhraṣṭo hy antarāle vyavasthitaḥ, prabho ||

Translation

Nakula said: “O lord, if you depart into dissolution like a cloud-bank torn apart and driven by the wind, then I—fallen away from both this world and the next—will remain suspended in the in-between, as it were.”

Word by Word

छिन्नाcut off, torn

भ्रमिa cloud (whirling mass)

इवlike, as

गन्तासिyou will go / you will become

विलयम्dissolution, destruction

मारुतेरितम्driven by the wind

लोकयोःof the two worlds

उभयोःof both

भ्रष्टःfallen away, deprived

अन्तरालेin the middle, in between

व्यवस्थितःstanding, remaining, fixed

प्रभोO lord

Speaker

नकुल उवाच

Characters & Entities

Nakula

prabhu (addressed lord)

the two worlds (loka and paraloka)

wind (māruta)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse warns that abandoning prescribed duties and rites abruptly—without proper grounding—can leave one spiritually and socially unmoored, ‘fallen from both worlds,’ neither fulfilling worldly obligations nor attaining the stability of renunciation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Nakula addresses a revered figure (‘prabhu’), expressing fear that if the addressee withdraws into renunciation/dissolution, Nakula himself will be left in a liminal state—like a wind-torn cloud—deprived of support in both worldly life and the hoped-for next world.