Shloka 3
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 64: Arjuna’s Instruction to Sanjaya
Message to the Kuru Assembly
युधिष्ठिरं हि कौन्तेयं परं धर्ममिहास्थितम् । परां गतिमसम्प्रेत्य न त्वं जेतुमिहाहसि,कुन्तीनन्दन युधिष्ठिर यहाँ उत्तम धर्मका आश्रय लेकर रहते हैं। तुम मृत्युको प्राप्त हुए बिना उन्हें जीत लोगे, यह कदापि सम्भव नहीं है
yudhiṣṭhiraṃ hi kaunteyaṃ paraṃ dharmam ihāsthitam | parāṃ gatim asamprāpya na tvaṃ jetum ihārhasi ||
Vidura said: “O son of Kuntī, Yudhiṣṭhira stands here firmly established in the highest dharma. Unless you yourself reach the final state (death), you are not fit to claim that you will conquer him here—such a victory is not truly possible.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Moral authority grounded in dharma cannot be overcome by ordinary power-politics; one who is firmly established in righteousness is not truly ‘conquered’ by external force. Vidura implies that attempting to defeat such a person is ethically and practically futile.
In the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war counsel, Vidura admonishes the Kaurava side (addressed as ‘son of Kuntī’ in the verse’s vocative style) that Yudhiṣṭhira is steadfast in the highest dharma, and that boasting of defeating him is misguided—only with one’s own end (death) could such a claim be imagined.