Shloka 3
कथं नैनं विमार्गस्थं वारयन्तीह बान्धवा: । सौह्ददाद् वा सुहृत् स्निग्धो भगवान् वा पितामह:,जनमेजयने कहा--भगवन्! दुर्योधनका अनर्थकारी कार्योंमें ही अधिक आग्रह था। पराये धनके प्रति अधिक लोभ रखनेके कारण वह मोहित हो गया था। दुर्जनोंमें ही उसका अनुराग था। उसने मरनेका ही निश्चय कर लिया था। वह कुट॒म्बीजनोंके लिये दुःख-दायक और भाई-बन्धुओंके शोकको बढ़ानेवाला था। सुहृदोंको क्लेश पहुँचाता और शत्रुओंका हर्ष बढ़ाता था। ऐसे कुमार्गपर चलनेवाले इस दुर्योधनको उसके भाई-बन्धु रोकते क्यों नहीं थे? कोई सुहृद, स्नेही अथवा पितामह भगवान् व्यास उसे सौहार्दवश मना क्यों नहीं करते थे?
kathaṁ nainaṁ vimārgasthaṁ vārayantīha bāndhavāḥ | sauhṛdād vā suhṛt snigdho bhagavān vā pitāmahaḥ ||
Janamejaya said: “How is it that his kinsmen here did not restrain him when he had strayed onto a wrong path? Or why did no affectionate well-wisher, moved by friendship, restrain him—nor even the venerable grandsire Vyāsa?”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights ethical responsibility: when someone in the family deviates from dharma, relatives and well-wishers are expected to intervene out of goodwill. It also raises the hard question of why moral counsel sometimes fails to prevent self-destructive choices.
Janamejaya asks why a person who has gone astray (contextually, Duryodhana) was not checked by his own kinsmen or by revered elders like Vyāsa. The question frames the coming explanation about failed counsel and the momentum toward war.