Shloka 15
अमूढवत्ते: पुरुषस्येह कुर्यात् कि वै मृत्युस्तार्ण इवास्य व्याघ्र: । अमन्यमान: क्षत्रिय किंचिदन्य- न्नाधीयीत निर्णुदन्निवास्य चायु:,जिसके चित्तकी वृत्तियाँ विषयभोगोंसे मोहित नहीं हुई हैं, उस ज्ञानी पुरुषका इस लोकमें तिनकोंके बनाये हुए व्याप्रके समान मृत्यु क्या बिगाड़ सकती है? इसलिये राजन! विषयभोगोंके मूल कारणरूप अज्ञानको नष्ट करनेकी इच्छासे दूसरे किसी भी सांसारिक पदार्थको कुछ भी न गिनकर उसका चिन्तन त्याग देना चाहिये
amūḍhavatteḥ puruṣasyeha kuryāt ki vā mṛtyustārṇa ivāsya vyāghraḥ | amanyamānaḥ kṣatriya kiñcidanyan nādhīyīta nirṇudannivāsya cāyuḥ ||
For a person whose mental movements are not deluded by sense-enjoyments, what harm can Death do here—like a tiger made of straw? Therefore, O Kṣatriya, wishing to uproot the ignorance that is the very root of worldly enjoyment, one should regard no other worldly thing as worth counting, and should abandon brooding over it—thus, as it were, driving away the span of life’s fear and bondage.
सनत्युजात उवाच
Educational Q&A
Death cannot truly harm the person whose mind is not deluded by sense-objects; therefore one should abandon worldly preoccupations and work to destroy ignorance, the root cause of bondage to enjoyment and fear.
In the Sanatsujātīya section of Udyoga Parva, Sanatsujāta instructs the ruler (addressed as kṣatriya) on overcoming fear of death through inner clarity and detachment, using the image of a straw tiger to show Death’s powerlessness over the undeluded.