Shloka 65

अध्याय ३३ — कर्म, दैव, हठ, स्वभाव और पुरुषार्थ पर द्रौपदी का उपदेश

Draupadī on Action, Fate, and Human Effort

Devanagari script

अर्थत्यागोडपि कार्य: स्वादर्थ श्रेयांसमिच्छता । बीजौपम्येन कौन्तेय मा ते भूदत्र संशय:,“कुन्तीकुमार! जैसे किसान अधिक अन्नराशि उपजानेकी लालसासे धान्य आदिके अल्प बीजोंका भूमिमें परित्याग कर देता है, उसी प्रकार श्रेष्ठ अर्थ पानेकी इच्छासे अल्प अर्थका त्याग किया जा सकता है। आपको इस विषयमें संशय नहीं करना चाहिये

Transliteration

arthatyāgo 'pi kāryaḥ svādarthaśreyāṁsam icchatā | bījaupamyena kaunteya mā te bhūd atra saṁśayaḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “O son of Kuntī, one who seeks a higher good for oneself should be prepared even to relinquish present, lesser gain. Just as a farmer, desiring a larger harvest, casts away a small quantity of seed into the earth, so may a small ‘artha’ be sacrificed to obtain a superior ‘artha’. Let there be no doubt in you on this point.”

Word by Word

• {'artha': 'wealth

• practical benefit', 'tyāga': 'renunciation

• sacrifice', 'api': 'even

• also', 'kāryaḥ': 'should be done

• is to be undertaken', 'svārtha': 'one’s own interest

• personal aim', 'śreyas': 'the higher good

• what is truly beneficial', 'śreyāṁsam': 'greater/better (comparative of śreyas)', 'icchatā': 'by one who desires

• seeking', 'bīja': 'seed', 'aupamya': 'analogy

• comparison', 'bījaupamyena': 'by the seed-analogy

• through comparison with seed', 'kaunteya': 'O son of Kuntī (address to a Pāṇḍava, typically Yudhiṣṭhira/Arjuna depending on context)', 'mā': 'do not', 'te': 'to you

• your', 'bhūt': 'let it be

• may it arise (optative sense)', 'atra': 'here

• in this matter', 'saṁśaya': 'doubt

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Kaunteya (son of Kuntī)
• bīja (seed)
• kṣetra/bhūmi (field/earth, implied by the seed analogy)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

To attain a greater, more beneficial end (śreyas), one may rightly give up a smaller, immediate advantage (artha). The verse frames sacrifice as rational investment, illustrated by sowing seed to gain a larger harvest.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana addresses a ‘Kaunteya’ (a son of Kuntī) with counsel: do not hesitate to relinquish lesser resources when a higher outcome is at stake, using the farmer-and-seed comparison to remove doubt.