Shloka 5
Sanatsujāta-Āhvāna (Summoning Sanatsujāta) — Vidura’s Invocation and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Doubt
प्रमादाद् वै असुरा: पराभव- न्नप्रमादाद् ब्रह्मभूता: सुराश्ष । नैव मृत्युर्व्याघ्र इवात्ति जन्तून् न हास्य रूपमुपलभ्यते हि,प्रमादके ही कारण असुरगण (आसुरी सम्पत्तिवाले) मृत्युसे पराजित हुए और अप्रमादसे ही देवगण (दैवी सम्पत्तिवाले) ब्रह्मस्वरूप हुए। यह निश्चय है कि मृत्यु व्याप्रके समान प्राणियोंका भक्षण नहीं करती, क्योंकि उसका कोई रूप देखनेमें नहीं आता
pramādād vai asurāḥ parābhavan na pramādād brahmabhūtāḥ surāḥ | naiva mṛtyur vyāghra ivātti jantūn na hāsya rūpam upalabhyate hi ||
Sanatsujāta teaches that the asura-like disposition meets defeat through heedlessness, while the deva-like disposition attains a brahman-like state through vigilance and wakefulness. Death, he says, does not visibly devour beings the way a tiger does, for death has no form that can be directly perceived; it overcomes through the inner cause of negligence rather than by a seen, graspable shape.
सनत्युजात उवाच
Educational Q&A
Negligence (pramāda) is the inner cause of downfall and ‘death’ in the ethical-spiritual sense, while vigilance (apramāda) leads to elevation—symbolized as becoming brahman-like. Death is not a visible predator; it prevails through unseen conditions, especially heedlessness.
In the Sanatsujātīya discourse within Udyoga Parva, Sanatsujāta instructs (in response to existential concerns about death and right living) that the decisive factor is one’s attentiveness or negligence: asuric tendencies fall through pramāda, whereas divine tendencies rise through apramāda.