Shloka 66
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 71 — Kṣatra-dharma Counsel, Public Legitimacy, and Mobilization
यदि अपनेमें पुरुषार्थ है, तो पूर्ववैरको याद करके जो हृदयको पीड़ा देनेवाली प्रबल चिन्ता सदा बनी रहती है, उसे वैराग्यपूर्वक त्याग देनेसे ही शान्ति मिल सकती है; अथवा मर जानेसे ही उस चिन्ताका निवारण हो सकता है ।। अथवा मूलघातेन द्विषतां मधुसूदन । फलनिर्व त्तिरिद्धा स्यात् तन्नृशंसतरं भवेत्,अथवा शत्रुओंको समूल नष्ट कर देनेसे ही अभीष्ट फलकी सिद्धि हो सकती है। परंतु मधुसूदन! यह बड़ी क्रूरताका कार्य होगा
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | yady ātmani puruṣārtho 'sti, pūrvavairaṃ smṛtvā hṛdaya-pīḍā-karī yā prabalā cintā sadā tiṣṭhati, sā vairāgya-pūrvakaṃ tyaktavyā—tata eva śāntiḥ; athavā maraṇād eva tasyāś cintāyā nivṛttiḥ syāt || athavā mūlaghātena dviṣatāṃ madhusūdana, phala-nirvṛttir iṣṭā syāt; tan nṛśaṃsataraṃ bhavet ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “If there is true human effort within oneself, then the fierce anxiety that constantly remains—painful to the heart—when one recalls former enmity, can be calmed only by renouncing it with detachment; otherwise, that anxiety is ended only by death. Or else, O Madhusūdana, the desired result may be achieved by striking the enemies at the root and destroying them utterly; but that would be an even more ruthless course.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Yudhiṣṭhira frames a moral choice: peace comes from relinquishing the heart’s fixation on past enmity through detachment; the alternative routes—death or annihilating enemies at the root—may end anxiety or secure results, but the latter is ethically darker, marked as ruthless.
In the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war deliberations, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks to Kṛṣṇa (Madhusūdana), confessing the torment of remembered hostility and weighing two paths: inner renunciation to gain peace, or decisive violent eradication of foes to achieve the desired political outcome—while condemning that option as cruel.