Shloka 58
हंस–साध्यसंवादः, वाक्-निग्रहः, महाकुल-लक्षणम्, शान्ति-उपायः
Hamsa–Sādhya Dialogue; Restraint of Speech; Marks of Noble Lineage; Means to Peace
प्रज्ञाशरेणा भिह तस्य जन्तो- श्रविकित्सका: सन्ति न चौषधानि । न होममन्त्रा न च मड्बलानि नाथर्वणा नाप्यगदा: सुसिद्धा:,जिसको बुद्धिके बाणसे मारा गया है, उस जीवके लिये न कोई वैद्य है, न दवा है, न होम, न मन्त्र, न कोई मांगलिक कार्य, न अथर्ववेदोक्त प्रयोग और न भलीभाँति सिद्ध जड़ी बूटी ही है
prajñāśareṇābhihatasya jantoḥ śravikitsakāḥ santi na cauṣadhāni | na homamantrā na ca maṅgalāni nātharvaṇā nāpyagadāḥ susiddhāḥ ||
Vidura says: “For one struck down by the arrow of wisdom, there is no physician and no medicine. Neither sacrificial rites with their mantras, nor auspicious ceremonies, nor Atharvanic spells, nor even well-proven antidotal herbs can avail. For true awakening—when insight pierces delusion—cannot be undone by ritual, charm, or remedy; it turns one decisively away from wrongdoing and toward dharma.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
When genuine wisdom pierces a person—destroying delusion and attachment—no external countermeasure can undo it. Rituals, spells, auspicious rites, or medicines may address bodily or worldly troubles, but they cannot reverse true ethical awakening; it irreversibly redirects one toward dharma.
In the Udyoga Parva, Vidura offers moral counsel in the tense lead-up to war. Here he uses a striking metaphor: wisdom is like an arrow that, once it hits, leaves no ‘treatment’—emphasizing the decisive, transformative power of right understanding over mere external rites.