Shloka 22
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 71 — Kṣatra-dharma Counsel, Public Legitimacy, and Mobilization
नात:ः पापीयसीं काज्चिदवस्थां शम्बरो<ब्रवीत् । यत्र नैवाद्य न प्रातर्भोजनं प्रतिदृश्यते,जहाँ आज और कल सबेरेके लिये भोजन नहीं दिखायी देता, उस दरिद्रतासे बढ़कर दूसरी कोई दुःखदायिनी अवस्था नहीं है; यह शम्बरका कथन है
nātaḥ pāpīyasīṃ kācid avasthāṃ śambaro ’bravīt | yatra naivādya na prātar-bhojanaṃ pratidṛśyate ||
Dijo Yudhiṣṭhira: “Śambara ha declarado que no hay condición más miserable que ésta: cuando no se ve alimento para el día de hoy, ni siquiera una comida matutina para mañana. Más allá de tal pobreza, no existe otro estado que cause mayor sufrimiento.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights hunger and food-insecurity as the most crushing form of suffering, implying an ethical duty for rulers and society to prevent such deprivation and to treat relief of poverty as a primary dharmic concern.
Yudhiṣṭhira cites a saying attributed to Śambara to emphasize the severity of destitution—specifically the despair of not seeing food for today or even tomorrow morning—within a broader discussion of conduct, governance, and the human costs surrounding the impending conflict.