Shloka 173
स्त्रीपर्व १: धृतराष्ट्रशोकः संजयाश्वासनं च
Strī Parva 1: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Lament and Saṃjaya’s Consolation
यस्येदं फलमद्येह मया मूढेन भुज्यते । संजय! इस जन्ममें पहले कभी अपना किया हुआ कोई ऐसा पाप मुझे नहीं याद आ रहा है, जिसका मुझ मूढ़को आज यहाँ यह फल भोगना पड़ रहा है
yasyedaṃ phalam adyeha mayā mūḍhena bhujyate | sañjaya! asmin janmani pūrvaṃ kadācana svayaṃ kṛtaṃ tādṛśaṃ pāpaṃ me na smaryate, yasya phalaṃ mayā mūḍhena adya iha bhoktavyaṃ bhavati |
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Sañjaya, I—deluded as I am—am suffering this consequence here today. Yet in this very life I cannot recall having committed any such sin earlier by my own hand for which I should now be forced to endure this result.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how delusion can obscure moral causality: Dhṛtarāṣṭra feels the crushing ‘fruit’ of events yet fails to recognize his own complicity. Ethically, it points to the danger of self-exculpation and the need for honest self-assessment regarding one’s role in wrongdoing and its consequences.
In the opening of the Strī Parva, after the devastation of the Kurukṣetra war, Dhṛtarāṣṭra speaks to Sañjaya in grief and bewilderment. He says he is suffering a terrible result now, yet he cannot remember any personal sin in this life that would justify such suffering—revealing his confusion and moral blindness amid the aftermath.