Shloka 80
Adhyaya 32: Saṃjaya’s Return, Audience with Dhṛtarāṣṭra, and Ethical Admonition
अरक्षितारं राजानं भार्या चाप्रियवादिनीम् | ग्रामकामं च गोपालं वनकाम॑ च नापितम्,उपदेश न देनेवाले आचार्य, मन्त्रोच्चारण न करनेवाले होता, रक्षा करनेमें असमर्थ राजा, कटु वचन बोलनेवाली स्त्री, ग्राममें रहनेकी इच्छावाले ग्वाले तथा वनमें रहनेकी इच्छावाले नाई--इन छःको उसी भाँति छोड़ दे, जैसे समुद्रकी सैर करनेवाला मनुष्य छिद्रयुक्त नावका परित्याग कर देता है
araksitāraṁ rājānaṁ bhāryā cāpriyavādinīm | grāmakāmaṁ ca gopālaṁ vanakāmaṁ ca nāpitam ||
Vidura advises that one should abandon, without hesitation, a king who cannot protect, a wife who speaks harshly, a cowherd who longs only for village life, and a barber who longs only for the forest—just as a man setting out upon the sea discards a boat that is full of holes. The ethical point is practical dharma: roles and relationships are to be maintained when they fulfill their proper function; when they become structurally unfit and endanger one’s welfare, prudent renunciation is justified.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Roles and relationships are to be judged by their dharmic function: a ruler must protect, a spouse should be supportive in speech, and workers should be suited to their place and duty. When a person is fundamentally unfit for their role and becomes a source of danger or harm, one should withdraw—like abandoning a leaky boat before it sinks.
In Udyoga Parva, Vidura delivers niti (practical ethical counsel) in the tense lead-up to the Kurukṣetra war. Here he uses a vivid simile—discarding a hole-ridden boat at sea—to urge timely separation from unreliable protectors and dysfunctional companions.