Shloka 20
भीमसेनस्य आत्मबलप्रशंसा — Bhīmasena’s Assertion of Strength
Udyoga Parva, Adhyāya 74
तवैषा विकृता बुद्धिर्गवां वागिव मानुषी । मनांसि पाण्डुपुत्राणां मज्जयत्यप्लवानिव,यदि गौएँ मनुष्योंकी बोली बोलें, तो वह जैसे बिगड़ी हुई होगी, उसी प्रकार तुम्हारी यह बुद्धि विकृत होकर अगाध समुद्रमें नावके बिना डूबनेवाले मनुष्योंकी भाँति पाण्डवोंके मनको चिन्तामग्न किये देती है
tavaiṣā vikṛtā buddhir gavāṁ vāg iva mānuṣī | manāṁsi pāṇḍuputrāṇāṁ majjayaty aplavān iva |
Vaiśampāyana said: “This perverted counsel of yours is like the human speech of cattle—something unnatural and distorted. In the same way, it plunges the hearts of the sons of Pāṇḍu into anxiety, like people without a boat sinking in a deep sea.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Distorted judgment and unethical counsel do not merely misstate facts; they destabilize others’ minds and push them toward fear and confusion. The verse warns that unnatural, warped reasoning—like cattle speaking human language—signals a breakdown of proper discernment (buddhi) and harms those who must act under its influence.
In the Udyoga Parva’s tense pre-war negotiations, Vaiśampāyana characterizes someone’s counsel as ‘vikṛtā buddhi’—a perversion of sound judgment. He says it overwhelms the Pāṇḍavas’ hearts with worry, using the image of boatless people sinking in a vast sea to convey helplessness and mounting anxiety.