Shloka 12
Śoka-śamana: Kṛṣṇa’s Consolation and Nārada’s Exempla to Sṛñjaya
Chapter 29
क्षत्रधर्मरता: शूरा वेदवेदाडगपारगा: । प्राप्ता वीरगतिं पुण्यां तानू न शोचितुमरहसि
kṣatradharmaratāḥ śūrā vedavedāṅgapāragāḥ | prāptā vīragatiṁ puṇyāṁ tānū na śocitum arhasi ||
Vāyu said: “They were heroic men devoted to the kṣatriya’s dharma, and they had mastered the Vedas together with their auxiliary disciplines. Having attained the holy destiny of heroes, you ought not to grieve for them.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches restraint in grief when death occurs in accordance with one’s dharma: those who lived as true kṣatriyas and were grounded in sacred learning have attained an honored, meritorious end, so excessive lamentation is ethically inappropriate.
Vāyudeva addresses a grieving listener and offers consolation by praising the fallen as brave, dharma-oriented warriors and learned men, asserting that they have reached a ‘hero’s destiny’ and therefore should not be mourned.