Shloka 12
Gautama–Yama Saṃvāda: Mātṛ-Pitṛ-Ṛṇa (Debt to Parents) and Śubha-Loka Attainment
न राजलक्षणत्यागो न पुरस्य तपोधना: । दुःखं करोति तत् तीव्रं यथा55शा विहता मम,“तपोधनो! नगर तथा राजचिदह्लोंका परित्याग मुझे वैसा तीव्र कष्ट नहीं दे रहा है, जैसा कि मेरी भग्न हुई आशा दे रही है
na rāja-lakṣaṇa-tyāgo na purasya tapo-dhanāḥ | duḥkhaṃ karoti tat tīvraṃ yathāśā vihatā mama ||
Bhishma said: “O treasure of austerity, neither the renouncing of royal insignia nor the abandonment of the city causes me such intense pain as does my hope, now shattered.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
External losses—status, symbols of rule, even one’s city—may be bearable, but attachment to outcomes (āśā) can create the sharpest suffering when it is frustrated. The ethical thrust is toward inner steadiness and reduced dependence on hope-as-attachment.
Bhishma, speaking in the Shanti Parva, addresses an ascetic-like interlocutor (“tapo-dhana”) and confesses that his deepest pain is not from giving up royal trappings or leaving the city, but from his own hope being broken—an inward, psychological defeat.