Shloka 13
Strī Parva, Adhyāya 2 — Vidura’s Consolation on Kāla, Karma, and the Limits of Lamentation (विदुरोपदेशः)
अदर्शनादापतिताः: पुनश्चादर्शनं गता: । नैते तव न तेषां त्वं तत्र का परिदेवना,ये अदृश्य जगत्से आये थे और पुन: अदृश्य जगतमें ही चले गये हैं। ये न तो आपके थे और न आप ही इनके हैं। फिर यहाँ शोक करनेका क्या कारण है?
adarśanād āpatitāḥ punaś cādarśanaṃ gatāḥ | naite tava na teṣāṃ tvaṃ tatra kā paridevanā ||
Vidura said: “They have come forth from the unseen and have again gone back into the unseen. They were not truly yours, nor are you truly theirs. In that case, what reason is there here for lamentation?”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vidura teaches detachment grounded in impermanence: beings emerge from the unmanifest and return to it, so possessive identification (“mine” and “yours”) is ultimately unfounded; therefore excessive lamentation is ethically and spiritually unhelpful.
In the Strī Parva’s aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war, Vidura offers counsel meant to steady the mind of the grieving, reframing death as a return to the unseen and questioning the basis for personal ownership that fuels sorrow.