Shloka 7
Udyoga Parva, Adhyāya 40 — Vidura’s Ethical Counsel and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Fatalistic Turn
धृतराष्ट उवाच ब्रवीहि विदुर त्वं मे पुराणं तं सनातनम् | कथमेतेन देहेन स्यादिहैव समागम:
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | brūhi vidura tvaṃ me purāṇaṃ taṃ sanātanam | katham etena dehena syād ihaiva samāgamaḥ ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra dit : «Dis-moi, Vidura, ce récit ancien et éternel. Comment pourrait-il y avoir une rencontre avec lui ici même, en ce monde, alors que je demeure encore dans ce même corps ?»
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic inquiry: the king seeks an authoritative, time-tested (purāṇa, sanātana) teaching and questions the possibility of direct encounter or realization while embodied—highlighting the tension between worldly limitation and access to higher truth.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra addresses Vidura and asks him to recount an ancient, eternal tradition, then presses a practical doubt: how such a meeting/encounter could occur ‘here itself’ while one remains in the same physical body—setting up Vidura’s forthcoming explanation.