Shloka 2
Sanatsujāta-Āhvāna (Summoning Sanatsujāta) — Vidura’s Invocation and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Doubt
धृतराष्ट उवाच सनत्सुजात यदिदं शृणोमि न मृत्युरस्तीति तव प्रवादम् । देवासुरा ह्याचरन् ब्रह्मचर्य- ममृत्यवे तत् कतरन्नु सत्यम्,धृतराष्ट्र बोले--सनत्सुजातजी! मैं यह सुना करता हूँ कि मृत्यु है ही नहीं, ऐसा आपका सिद्धान्त है। साथ ही यह भी सुना है कि देवता और असुरोंने मृत्युसे बचनेके लिये ब्रह्मचर्यका पालन किया था। इन दोनोंमें कौन-सी बात यथार्थ है?
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | sanatsujāta yad idaṁ śṛṇomi na mṛtyur astīti tava pravādam | devāsurā hy ācaran brahmacaryam amṛtyave tat kataran nu satyam ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Sanatsujāta, I hear this doctrine of yours—that death does not truly exist. Yet I also hear that the gods and the asuras practiced brahmacarya in order to become free from death. Of these two accounts, which is the truth?”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a philosophical problem: if death is ultimately unreal (or not absolute), why would even gods and asuras undertake strict brahmacarya to attain deathlessness? It sets up Sanatsujāta’s teaching that ‘death’ is tied to ignorance, delusion, and moral-spiritual lapse, while ‘deathlessness’ is linked to knowledge and disciplined living.
In the Udyoga Parva, Dhṛtarāṣṭra questions the sage Sanatsujāta. Troubled and seeking clarity, he contrasts two reports—Sanatsujāta’s claim that death is not ultimately real, and the tradition that gods and asuras practiced brahmacarya to escape death—and asks which should be accepted as true.