Shloka 273
Strī Parva, Adhyāya 2 — Vidura’s Consolation on Kāla, Karma, and the Limits of Lamentation (विदुरोपदेशः)
चिन्त्यमानं हि न व्येति भूयश्चापि प्रवर्धते । यदि अपनेमें पराक्रम देखे तो शोक न करते हुए शोकके कारणका निवारण करनेकी चेष्टा करे। दुःखको दूर करनेके लिये सबसे अच्छी दवा यही है कि उसका चिन्तन छोड़ दिया जाय, चिन्तन करनेसे दुःख कम नहीं होता बल्कि और भी बढ़ जाता है
cintyamānaṃ hi na vyeti bhūyaścāpi pravardhate |
Vidura said: “Sorrow does not pass away by being brooded over; rather, it grows all the more. Therefore, if one finds strength within oneself, one should not sink into grief, but strive to remove the very cause of grief. The best remedy for distress is to abandon obsessive rumination, for by thinking on it repeatedly, suffering does not diminish—it increases.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Brooding over sorrow does not cure it; it amplifies it. One should cultivate inner resolve and work to remove the cause of grief rather than feeding it through repeated rumination.
In the Strī Parva’s aftermath of the war, Vidura offers practical moral counsel: he urges restraint of mind and purposeful action, advising that grief should be met with inner strength and remedial effort, not endless lamentation.