Shloka 56
व्यसन वास्य काड्क्षेत विवासं वा युधिष्ठिर । अपि सिन्धोगिरिर्वापि किं पुनर्मर्त्यधर्मिण:,महाराज युधिष्ठिर! अथवा शत्रुपर कोई भारी संकट आने या देशसे उसके निकाले जानेकी प्रतीक्षा करे; क्योंकि अपना विरोधी यदि समुद्र अथवा पर्वत हो तो उसपर भी विपत्ति लानेकी इच्छा रखनी चाहिये, फिर जो मरणधर्मा मनुष्य है, उसके लिये तो कहना ही क्या है?
vyasana-vāsya kāṅkṣet vivāsaṃ vā yudhiṣṭhira | api sindho-girir vāpi kiṃ punar martyadharmiṇaḥ ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “One should even look for an adversary’s calamity or exile. If the opponent were the ocean or a mountain, one should still wish to bring misfortune upon it—how much more, then, in the case of a mortal human being, bound by death.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse expresses a hard-edged political ethic: in rivalry, one should not passively wait for danger but actively seek the opponent’s weakening—since even vast forces (like sea or mountain) would be treated as adversaries, a mortal human opponent is certainly vulnerable.
Yudhiṣṭhira is speaking in the Vana Parva context, articulating a principle about dealing with enemies—framing exile or calamity as desirable outcomes for an adversary and emphasizing the inevitability of human vulnerability (mortality).