Shloka 3
Gāndhārī’s Grief, Vyāsa’s Pacification, and the Ethics of Retaliation (गान्धारी-शोकः शमोपदेशश्च)
एवं विद्वान महाप्राज्ञ: समर्थ: सन् बलाबले | आत्मापराधात् कस्मात् त्वं कुरुष कोपमीदृशम्
evaṁ vidvān mahāprājñaḥ samarthaḥ san balābale | ātmāparādhāt kasmāt tvaṁ kuruṣa kopam īdṛśam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Though you are learned, profoundly wise, and fully capable—one who understands both strength and weakness—why, on account of your own fault, do you arouse such anger of this kind?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even the wise and capable must practice self-restraint: anger is ethically suspect when it arises from one’s own wrongdoing. The verse points to accountability (ātma-aparādha) and urges reflection rather than reactive wrath.
The narrator, Vaiśampāyana, frames a rebuke or probing question directed at someone considered learned and discerning, challenging them for displaying intense anger despite their awareness of strength and weakness, and despite the situation being rooted in their own fault.