Shloka 10
शोक-शमन उपदेशः
Instruction on the Pacification of Grief
वैचित्रवीर्य प्राप्पं हि दुः:खं वा यदि वा सुखम् । प्राप्रुवन्तीह भूतानि स्वकृतेनैव कर्मणा,विचित्रवीर्यनन्दन! यदि दुःख या सुख प्राप्त होनेवाला है तो प्राणी उसे अपने किये हुए कर्मके अनुसार ही पाते हैं
Vaicitravīrya-prāptaṃ hi duḥkhaṃ vā yadi vā sukham | prāpnuvantīha bhūtāni svakṛtenaiva karmaṇā, Vicitravīrya-nandana ||
Ô descendant de Vicitravīrya ! Qu’il s’agisse de chagrin ou de bonheur, même si l’on prétend que cela est « destiné » par la lignée de Vicitravīrya, les êtres en ce monde ne l’obtiennent en vérité qu’en accord avec leurs propres actes. Il faut donc comprendre que plaisir et peine naissent de l’action personnelle, non de la seule naissance ni du hasard.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vidura teaches that pleasure and pain are experienced according to one’s own karma (svakṛta-karma). Even if outcomes are spoken of as ‘coming from lineage’ or ‘fate,’ the ethical principle asserted is personal moral causality: beings reap results shaped by their own actions.
In the Strī Parva’s lament-filled aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war, Vidura addresses a Kuru elder/descendant of Vicitravīrya, offering counsel meant to steady the mind amid grief by pointing to the law of karma as the underlying explanation for experienced sorrow and happiness.