Shloka 19
शोक-शमन उपदेशः
Instruction on the Pacification of Grief
एवं संसारगहने उन््मज्जननिमज्जने । कर्मभोगेन बध्यन्ते क्लिश्यन्ते चाल्पबुद्धय:
evaṁ saṁsāra-gahane unmajjana-nimajjane | karma-bhogena badhyante kliśyante cālpa-buddhayaḥ ||
Thus, in the dense thicket of worldly existence—rising up and sinking down again—people of little understanding are bound by the experience of their own actions and are continually afflicted.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vidura teaches that ignorance and poor discernment keep beings trapped in saṁsāra: they become bound by the lived consequences of their actions (karma-bhoga) and therefore continue to suffer. The implied remedy is wisdom—seeing clearly, choosing dharmic action, and loosening attachment to outcomes.
In the Strī Parva’s grief-filled aftermath of the war, Vidura speaks in a reflective, instructive mode. He frames human life as a turbulent cycle of rising and sinking, emphasizing how ordinary people, lacking insight, remain entangled in the results of their deeds and are pained by that bondage.