Shloka 20
Saṃsāra-Gahana Allegory: The Brāhmaṇa in the Forest and Well (संसारगहन-आख्यान)
न चास्य जीविते राजन् निर्वेद: समजायत
na cāsya jīvite rājan nirvedaḥ samajāyata
O King, no dispassion or remorse arose in him concerning his own life; even after what had happened, he did not turn inward with repentance or detachment.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vidura highlights a moral failure: even after catastrophic events, a person may remain untouched by remorse or dispassion. The verse implies that ethical awakening is shown by nirveda—an inner turning away from wrongdoing and worldly fixation—without which reform and dharmic clarity do not arise.
In Strī Parva, amid grief and reckoning after the war, Vidura addresses the king and comments on a particular person’s inner state: despite the situation, no nirveda arose in him regarding his own life, indicating continued attachment or lack of repentance.