Shloka 2
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament for Karṇa and Renunciation-Oriented Self-Assessment (शोक-प्रलापः / त्याग-प्रवृत्तिः)
आविष्टो दुःखशोकाशभ्यां नि:श्वसंश्ष पुन: पुनः । दृष्टवार्जुनमुवाचेदं वचनं शोककर्शित:,दुःख और शोकसे आविष्ट हो वे बारंबार लंबी साँस खींचने लगे और अर्जुनको देखकर शोकसे पीड़ित हो इस प्रकार बोले
āviṣṭo duḥkhaśokābhyāṃ niḥśvasan punaḥ punaḥ | dṛṣṭvārjunam uvācedaṃ vacanaṃ śokakarśitaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Overwhelmed by grief and sorrow, he kept heaving deep sighs again and again. Then, seeing Arjuna, and worn down by mourning, he spoke these words—setting a somber moral frame in which anguish and responsibility press upon the mind before counsel is given.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical psychology of dharma-discourse: true counsel often begins from acknowledged sorrow and moral burden. It signals that the forthcoming words arise from lived suffering, not mere theory.
The narrator describes a grief-stricken figure repeatedly sighing; upon seeing Arjuna, he speaks. The scene functions as a transition into instruction or guidance addressed to Arjuna in the Shanti Parva context.