Shloka 21
Udyoga Parva, Adhyaya 31 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Instructions to Sañjaya
Peace Appeal and Five-Village Proposal
तव हामी मन्त्रविद: समेत्य समासते कर्मसु नित्ययुक्ता: । तेषामयं बलवान निश्चय श्र कुरुक्षये नियमेनोदपादि
tava hāmī mantravidaḥ sametya samāsate karmasu nityayuktāḥ | teṣām ayaṃ balavān niścayaḥ śrī-kuru-kṣaye niyamena udapādi ||
Sanjaya said: “Your counsellors, skilled in policy and counsel, gather together and sit in constant readiness for affairs of state. Yet the forceful resolve they have formed—fixed by deliberate insistence—has arisen in the land of the Kurus as a cause that will inevitably ripen into the Kauravas’ destruction, for it is rooted in the refusal to act justly toward the Pandavas.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even well-organized counsel and constant administrative readiness become ethically barren if the underlying resolve is adharma; a stubborn, unjust decision—especially regarding rightful claims—turns into the seed of collective ruin.
Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra that his ministers regularly convene and are active in state matters, but their strong, deliberate decision (understood here as denying the Pandavas their due) has arisen as the decisive cause leading toward the Kauravas’ future destruction.