Shloka 32
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament for Karṇa and Renunciation-Oriented Self-Assessment (शोक-प्रलापः / त्याग-प्रवृत्तिः)
आत्मनो हि वयं दोषाद् विनष्टा: शाश्वती: समा: । प्रदहन्तो दिश: सर्वा भास्वरा इव तेजसा,हमलोगोंने तेजसे प्रकाशित होनेवाली सम्पूर्ण दिशाओंमें मानो आग लगा दी और अपने ही दोषसे सदाके लिये नष्ट हो गये
ātmano hi vayaṃ doṣād vinaṣṭāḥ śāśvatīḥ samāḥ | pradahanto diśaḥ sarvā bhāsvārā iva tejasā ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Truly, through our own fault we have been ruined for endless years. Blazing with power like radiant fires, we seemed to set all the directions aflame—yet that very brilliance, misused, became the cause of our lasting destruction.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Power (tejas) and success can appear dazzling, but when driven by doṣa (fault—such as anger, ambition, or moral lapse), they lead to long-lasting ruin. The verse stresses personal accountability: the catastrophe is owned as ‘our own fault,’ not blamed on fate alone.
In Śānti Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the devastation following the great war. He describes how their blazing might seemed to scorch the whole world (‘all directions’), yet that very course—tainted by their own failings—has left them inwardly destroyed for a long time.