Shloka 144
Śoka-śamana: Kṛṣṇa’s Consolation and Nārada’s Exempla to Sṛñjaya
Chapter 29
स चेन्ममार सूंजय चतुर्भद्रतरस्त्वया । पुत्रात् पुण्यतरश्वैव मा पुत्रमनुप्यथा:
sa cen mamāra sūñjaya caturbhadrataras tvayā | putrāt puṇyataras caiva mā putram anupyathāḥ ||
Vāyu dit : «Ô Sūñjaya, si ceux qui possédaient quatre qualités de bon augure—supérieures même aux tiennes—et dont le mérite dépassait de loin celui de ton fils, sont pourtant morts, que dire alors de ton fils ? Ne te lamente donc pas pour l’enfant qui s’en est allé.»
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even those superior in auspicious qualities and merit are subject to death; therefore grief over a loved one’s death should be restrained by understanding impermanence and the universal law of mortality.
Vāyudeva addresses Sūñjaya, consoling him for his son’s death by pointing out that death has overtaken even more virtuous and excellently endowed persons; hence Sūñjaya should not lament.