Shloka 27

Vyāsa’s Counsel to Yudhiṣṭhira: Pratismṛti-vidyā, Arjuna’s Aśtra-Quest, and the Move to Kāmyaka

Devanagari script

तस्माद्‌ दुःखादिदं दुःखं गरीय इति मे मति:

Transliteration

tasmād duḥkhād idaṃ duḥkhaṃ garīya iti me matiḥ

Translation

Therefore, compared with that sorrow, this sorrow seems to me the heavier.

Word by Word

• तस्मात्: from that
• तस्मात्: Apadana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Ablative, Singular

• दुःखात्: from (that) sorrow
• दुःखात्: Apadana
• Type: Noun
• Root: दुःख
• Form: Neuter, Ablative, Singular

• इदम्: this
• इदम्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: इदम्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• दुःखम्: sorrow, suffering
• दुःखम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: दुःख
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• गरीयः: heavier, greater (more severe)
• गरीयः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: गरियस् (गुरु-तुल्यतर/गुरु-तरा)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• इति: thus, (saying) that
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति

• मे: of me, my
• मे: Adhikarana
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: —, Genitive, Singular

• मतिः: thought, opinion, understanding
• मतिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मति
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights ethical discernment in suffering: the mind evaluates pains not only by intensity but by their moral and relational weight—some griefs are ‘heavier’ because they involve dharma, loyalty, or irreversible loss.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, comments that the present distress is judged greater than a prior one, marking a turning point where the characters’ situation is understood as more grievous in consequence and meaning.