Shloka 136
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Remorse and Vyāsa’s Teaching on Impermanence (Śoka-nivāraṇa)
अल्पकालस्य राज्यस्य कृते मूढेन घातित: । जिन्होंने हमें बचपनसे पाल-पोसकर बड़ा किया और सब प्रकारसे हमारी रक्षा की, उन्हींको मुझ पापी, राज्य-लोभी, गुरुघाती एवं मूर्खने थोड़े समयतक रहनेवाले राज्यके लिये मरवा डाला
alpākālasya rājyasya kṛte mūḍhena ghātitaḥ |
Yudhiṣṭhira se lamenta: Por un reino que habría de durar sólo un breve tiempo, yo —engañado y cegado por el ansia de soberanía— fui causa de la muerte de aquellos mismos ancianos y protectores que me criaron y me resguardaron desde la niñez.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly power is transient, but moral debts—gratitude to protectors, reverence to elders/teachers, and responsibility for violence—are enduring. Pursuing a short-lived kingdom at the cost of dharma leads to lasting remorse and self-condemnation.
In Śānti Parva, after the devastation of the Kurukṣetra war, Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the catastrophe and blames himself. He says that for a brief, impermanent sovereignty he became the cause of the slaughter of those who had nurtured and protected him, expressing intense guilt and ethical anguish.