Shloka 8
Saṃsāra-mārga-vistaraḥ
Vidura’s Expanded Account of the Path
क्लिश्यमानाश्ष तैर्नित्यं वार्यमाणाश्षु भारत । स्वकर्मभिर्महाव्यालैनोंद्विजन्त्यल्पबुद्धयः,भरतनन्दन! अपने कर्मरूपी इन महान् हिंसक जन्तुओंसे सदा सताये तथा रोके जानेपर भी मन्दबुद्धि मानव संसारसे उद्विग्न या विरक्त नहीं होते हैं
kliśyamānāś ca tair nityaṁ vāryamāṇāś ca bhārata | svakarmabhir mahāvyālair nodvijanty alpabuddhayaḥ ||
Vidura said: “O Bhārata, though they are continually tormented by those afflictions and repeatedly held back, people of little understanding do not become disenchanted with the world. Even when their own actions—like great, violent beasts—ceaselessly harry them, they still fail to feel true revulsion or wakefulness toward the cycle of worldly life.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vidura teaches that ignorance makes people cling to worldly life even while suffering; one’s own karma becomes the very force that harms and restrains them, yet without discernment they do not develop dispassion or ethical awakening.
In the Stree Parva’s aftermath of the war, Vidura addresses the Kuru elder (Bhārata), offering reflective counsel: he uses a vivid metaphor—karma as ‘great beasts’—to explain why people remain attached to the world despite repeated pain and obstruction.