Shloka 18
Bhīmasena’s Admonition to Yudhiṣṭhira on Rājya and the Ordering of Dharma–Artha–Kāma
Book 3, Chapter 34
भूयो5पि दु:ःखं मम भीमसेन दूये विषस्येव रसं हि पीत्वा । यद् याज्ञसेनीं परिक्लिश्यमानां संदृश्य तत् क्षान्तमिति सम भीम,भीमसेन! मुझे इस बातका भी बड़ा दुःख है कि द्रौपदीको शत्रुओंद्वारा क्लेश दिया जा रहा था और हमने अपनी आँखों देखकर भी उसे चुपचाप सह लिया। जैसे कोई विष घोलकर पी ले और उसकी पीड़ासे कराहने लगे, वैसी ही वेदना इस समय मुझे हो रही है
bhūyo 'pi duḥkhaṁ mama bhīmasena dūye viṣasyeva rasaṁ hi pītvā | yad yājñasenīṁ parikliśyamānāṁ saṁdṛśya tat kṣāntam iti sma bhīma ||
Again, O Bhīmasena, a fresh sorrow burns within me. It is as though I had drunk the very essence of poison. For when we saw Yājñasenī being tormented, we endured it in silence—thinking, ‘Let it be borne.’ That forbearance, in the face of her suffering, now torments me with bitter remorse.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical burden of passive endurance when it enables injustice. Yudhiṣṭhira recognizes that ‘forbearance’ (kṣamā) is not always virtuous if it becomes complicity in another’s suffering; true dharma includes timely protection and moral courage, not merely self-controlled silence.
Yudhiṣṭhira speaks to Bhīma, confessing that he is tormented by the memory of having witnessed Draupadī’s humiliation and distress and having tolerated it at the time. He compares his present anguish to the burning pain of drinking poison, expressing regret over their earlier restraint.