Shloka 151

Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)

Devanagari script

हतो देश: पुरं दग्धं प्रधान: कुञ्जरो मृतः । लोकसाधारणेष्वेषु मिथ्याज्ञानेन तप्यते,“हाय! देश नष्ट हो गया, सारा नगर आगसे जल गया और वह प्रधान हाथी मर गया।' यद्यपि ये सब बातें सब लोगोंके लिये साधारण हैं--सबपर समान रूपसे ये कष्ट प्राप्त होते हैं तथापि राजा अपने मिथ्याज्ञानके कारण केवल अपनी ही हानि समझकर संतप्त होता रहता है

Transliteration

hato deśaḥ puraṁ dagdhaṁ pradhānaḥ kuñjaro mṛtaḥ | lokasādhāraṇeṣv eṣu mithyājñānena tapyate ||

Translation

Bhīṣma dit : « Le pays est ruiné, la cité a été brûlée, et l’éléphant principal est mort. » Bien que de tels malheurs soient communs à tous—des afflictions qui peuvent frapper n’importe qui—le roi, par une compréhension erronée, s’en afflige comme si ce n’était que sa perte personnelle, et continue de brûler intérieurement de chagrin.

Word by Word

• {'hataḥ': 'destroyed, struck down', 'deśaḥ': 'country, region, realm', 'puram': 'city, fortified town', 'dagdham': 'burnt, consumed by fire', 'pradhānaḥ': 'chief, principal, foremost', 'kuñjaraḥ': 'elephant', 'mṛtaḥ': 'dead', 'lokasādhāraṇa': 'common to all people

• universally shared', 'eṣu': 'in these (matters/circumstances)', 'mithyājñāna': 'false knowledge

• delusion', 'tapyate': 'is tormented

Speaker

भीष्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• king (rājā, implied)
• deśa (realm/country)
• pura (city)
• pradhāna kuñjara (chief elephant)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Suffering intensifies when one appropriates universal misfortunes as uniquely “mine.” Bhīṣma points to mithyājñāna—mistaken self-centered cognition—as the cause of prolonged grief; clearer understanding sees loss as part of the common human condition and supports steadiness and right judgment.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma cites a set of public calamities—ruined land, a burned city, and the death of a prized chief elephant—to illustrate how a king becomes inwardly tormented, not merely by events themselves, but by interpreting them through delusion as a purely personal catastrophe.