Shloka 21
अध्याय ३३ — कर्म, दैव, हठ, स्वभाव और पुरुषार्थ पर द्रौपदी का उपदेश
Draupadī on Action, Fate, and Human Effort
कर्शनार्थोीं हि यो धर्मो मित्राणामात्मनस्तथा । व्यसनं नाम तद् राजन् न धर्म: स कुधर्म तत्,“महाराज! जो धर्म अपने तथा मित्रोंके लिये क्लेश उत्पन्न करनेवाला हो, वह तो संकट ही है। वह धर्म नहीं, कुधर्म है
karśanārtho hi yo dharmo mitrāṇām ātmanaḥ tathā | vyasanaṃ nāma tad rājan na dharmaḥ sa kudharma tat ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O King, any so‑called ‘dharma’ that brings affliction upon oneself and upon one’s friends is in truth nothing but calamity. It is not dharma at all; it is misdirected, wrongful conduct (kudharma).”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
A principle of ethical discernment: actions labeled as ‘dharma’ must be tested by their real effects. If a supposed duty produces needless suffering for oneself and one’s friends, it is not true dharma but ‘kudharma’—a distorted righteousness that leads to ruin.
In Vaiśampāyana’s narration to the King, a moral judgment is stated as part of the ongoing discourse in the forest narrative: the speaker warns that not every claim of ‘duty’ is valid, and that a path bringing hardship and misfortune to one’s own side should be recognized as calamity rather than righteousness.