Shloka 151

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

Devanagari script

हतो देश: पुरं दग्धं प्रधान: कुञ्जरो मृतः । लोकसाधारणेष्वेषु मिथ्याज्ञानेन तप्यते

Transliteration

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

Translation

भीष्म बोले—“हाय! देश नष्ट हो गया, नगर जल गया और प्रधान हाथी मर गया।” यद्यपि ऐसी विपत्तियाँ सब लोगों के लिए समान हैं और किसी पर भी आ सकती हैं, तथापि राजा मिथ्याज्ञान के कारण उसे केवल अपनी ही हानि मानकर शोक से भीतर-ही-भीतर जलता रहता है।

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.