Shloka 16
सुखाद् बहुतरं दुःखं जीविते नात्र संशय: । स्निग्धत्वं चेन्द्रियार्थेषु मोहान्मरणमप्रियम्,इसमें संदेह नहीं कि जीवनमें सुखकी अपेक्षा दुःख ही अधिक होता है। किंतु सभीको मोहवश विषयोंके प्रति अनुराग होता है और मृत्यु अप्रिय लगती है
sukhād bahutaraṃ duḥkhaṃ jīvite nātra saṃśayaḥ | snigdhatvaṃ cendriyārtheṣu mohān maraṇam apriyam ||
Nārada said: In this life, there is no doubt that sorrow outweighs happiness. Yet, through delusion, beings grow attached to the objects of the senses, and therefore death appears unwelcome to them.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
Life in saṃsāra contains more suffering than pleasure; nevertheless, delusion makes one cling to sense-objects, and that attachment makes death seem hateful. The ethical thrust is to recognize moha and cultivate detachment and clarity.
Nārada is instructing the listener in a reflective, didactic passage of the Śānti Parva, emphasizing the imbalance of duḥkha over sukha in worldly life and explaining why beings still fear death—because of attachment born of delusion.