Shloka 23
Vidura-nīti: Atithi-dharma, Trust, Counsel-Secrecy, and Traits of Sustainable Rule
Udyoga Parva, Adhyāya 38
मया चापि हित वाच्यं विद्धि मां त्वद्धितैषिणम् । ज्ञातिभिविंग्रहस्तात न कर्तव्य: शुभार्थिना । सुखानि सह भोज्यानि ज्ञातिभिर्भरतर्षभ
mayā cāpi hita-vācyaṁ viddhi māṁ tvad-hitaiṣiṇam | jñātibhir vigrahas tāta na kartavyaḥ śubhārthinā | sukhāni saha bhojyāni jñātibhir bharatarṣabha ||
Vidura says: “Know that I too must speak what is beneficial; understand me as one who seeks your welfare. Dear one, a person who desires true good should not enter into conflict with his own kinsmen. Rather, O bull among the Bharatas, happiness is to be enjoyed together with one’s relatives.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
A seeker of true welfare should avoid hostility with one’s own relatives; well-being is sustained by kinship harmony and shared enjoyment rather than internecine conflict.
In the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war counsel, Vidura speaks as a well-wisher, urging the Kuru side to restrain internal strife and to choose reconciliation with their own family instead of escalating toward destructive conflict.