Shloka 55
चित्रसेन-समागमः / The Engagement with Citrasena and the Gandharvas
तमहं भारमासक्तमनाधृष्य॑ दुरात्मभि: । सुखं सर्व परित्यज्य रात्र्यहानि घटामि वै,“मुझपर जो भार रखा गया था, उसे दुष्ट स्वभावके स्त्री-पुरुष नहीं उठा सकते थे। परंतु मैं सब प्रकारका सुख-भोग छोड़कर रात-दिन उस दुर्वह भारको वहन करनेकी चेष्टा किया करती थी
tam ahaṃ bhāram āsaktam anādhṛṣyaṃ durātmabhiḥ | sukhaṃ sarvaṃ parityajya rātryahāni ghaṭāmi vai ||
“The burden that had been laid upon me was one that wicked-minded men and women could not have borne. Yet, renouncing every kind of comfort and pleasure, I strove day and night to carry that grievous load.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
True dharma is shown through steadfast acceptance of responsibility: one may need to renounce personal comfort and persist day and night in carrying a difficult duty that the morally weak would abandon.
The speaker (reported by Vaiśampāyana) describes bearing an exceptionally heavy responsibility—one that ‘wicked-minded’ people could not endure—while giving up all pleasures and continually striving to sustain it.