Shloka 20
इत्येते वै कथिता: पाण्डुपुत्रा यांस्त्वं मोहादवमन्य प्रवृत्त: । यद्येतेभ्यो मुच्यसे<रिष्टदेह: पुनर्जन्म प्राप्स्पसे जीव एव,इस प्रकार मैंने तुझे इन पाण्डवोंका परिचय दिया है, जिनका अपमान करके तू मोहवश इस नीच कर्ममें प्रवृत्त हुआ है। यदि आज तू इनके हाथोंसे जीवित बच जाय और तेरे शरीरपर कोई आँच नहीं आये, तो तुझे जीते-जी यह दूसरा जन्म प्राप्त हो
ity ete vai kathitāḥ pāṇḍuputrā yāṁs tvaṁ mohād avamanya pravṛttaḥ | yady etebhyo mucyase 'riṣṭadehaḥ punarjanma prāpsyase jīva eva ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “Thus have I described to you the sons of Pāṇḍu—those whom, out of delusion, you have scorned and against whom you have set yourself upon this base course. If you should escape from them today with your body unscathed and your life still intact, then even while living you will be made to undergo a ‘second birth’—a rebirth in the sense of a forced transformation brought about by the consequences of your wrongdoing.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Contempt born of delusion leads one into ignoble action, and even if one escapes immediate physical harm, moral causality still brings a ‘second birth’—a forced change of status, identity, or suffering that functions like rebirth. The verse stresses accountability beyond mere survival.
Vaiśaṃpāyana concludes a description/introduction of the Pāṇḍavas and rebukes the addressed person for having insulted them and acted wrongly. He warns that even if the person survives uninjured, the consequences will still overtake him in the form of a figurative ‘rebirth’ while alive.