Shloka 32
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament for Karṇa and Renunciation-Oriented Self-Assessment (शोक-प्रलापः / त्याग-प्रवृत्तिः)
आत्मनो हि वयं दोषाद् विनष्टा: शाश्वती: समा: । प्रदहन्तो दिश: सर्वा भास्वरा इव तेजसा,हमलोगोंने तेजसे प्रकाशित होनेवाली सम्पूर्ण दिशाओंमें मानो आग लगा दी और अपने ही दोषसे सदाके लिये नष्ट हो गये
ātmano hi vayaṃ doṣād vinaṣṭāḥ śāśvatīḥ samāḥ | pradahanto diśaḥ sarvā bhāsvārā iva tejasā ||
Yudhiṣṭhira dit : «En vérité, par notre propre faute, nous avons été ruinés pour des années sans fin. Flamboyants de puissance comme des feux éclatants, nous semblions embraser toutes les directions ; mais cette même splendeur, mal employée, devint la cause de notre destruction durable.»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Power (tejas) and success can appear dazzling, but when driven by doṣa (fault—such as anger, ambition, or moral lapse), they lead to long-lasting ruin. The verse stresses personal accountability: the catastrophe is owned as ‘our own fault,’ not blamed on fate alone.
In Śānti Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the devastation following the great war. He describes how their blazing might seemed to scorch the whole world (‘all directions’), yet that very course—tainted by their own failings—has left them inwardly destroyed for a long time.