Shloka 27
समृद्धैश्न न नन्दन्ति बान्धवा बान्धवैरपि | गुरंश्वैव विनिन्दन्ति मूढा: पण्डितमानिन:,“बन्धु-बान्धव अपने समृद्धिशाली बान्धवोंसे भी प्रसन्न नहीं रहते। अपनेको पण्डित माननेवाले मूढ़ मनुष्य गुरुजनोंकी भी निन्दा करते हैं
samṛddhaiś ca na nandanti bāndhavā bāndhavair api | gurūṃś caiva vinindanti mūḍhāḥ paṇḍitamāninaḥ ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: Even when their own kinsmen prosper, some relatives do not feel joy; and those deluded people—who merely imagine themselves to be learned—go so far as to disparage even their elders and teachers.
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that envy toward prosperous relatives and pride in one’s own supposed learning lead to adharma: one loses the capacity to rejoice in others’ good fortune and even violates the duty of reverence toward gurus and elders.
Mārkaṇḍeya is delivering moral instruction within his discourse, highlighting a common social failing—kin who resent success within the family and arrogant people who criticize their own teachers—thereby framing an ethical warning relevant to the characters’ conduct in the wider Vana Parva context.