Shloka 24
द्रौपदी-भीमसेनसंवादः
Draupadī–Bhīmasena Dialogue on Suffering, Kāla, and Daiva
यस्य सम रथघोषेण समकम्पत मेदिनी । सपर्वतवना भीम सहस्थावरजड्मा
yasya sama-ratha-ghoṣeṇa sama-kampata medinī | sa-parvata-vanā bhīma saha-sthāvara-jaṅgamā || bhīmasena! yasya mahā-bhāgyavataḥ putrasya utpattau mātāḥ kuntyāḥ sarvaḥ śoko naṣṭaḥ | sa eva tava kaniyān bhrātā arjunaḥ adya sva-duravasthayā māṃ śoka-magnaṃ karoti ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O Bhīma! At the thunder of whose chariot the earth used to tremble—together with its mountains and forests, with all that is immobile and all that moves—at whose auspicious birth Mother Kuntī’s entire sorrow was dispelled: that very younger brother of yours, Arjuna, now, because of his present wretched condition, plunges me into grief.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts past glory with present hardship to highlight the instability of worldly conditions and the ethical weight of empathy: even the mighty can fall into distress, and the righteous response is compassionate concern rather than pride.
Vaiśampāyana addresses Bhīma, recalling Arjuna’s former awe-inspiring power and the joy his birth brought to Kuntī, and then laments that Arjuna’s current degraded situation (during the Virāṭa-period hardships) has made the narrator sorrowful.