Shloka 6
Strī Parva, Adhyāya 2 — Vidura’s Consolation on Kāla, Karma, and the Limits of Lamentation (विदुरोपदेशः)
अभावादीनि भूतानि भावमध्यानि भारत । अभावनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना,जितने प्राणी हैं, वे जन्मसे पहले यहाँ व्यक्त नहीं थे। वे बीचमें ही व्यक्त होकर दिखायी देते हैं और अन्तमें पुनः उनका अभाव (अव्यक्तरूपसे अवस्थान) हो जायगा। ऐसी अवस्थामें उनके लिये रोने-धोनेकी क्या आवश्यकता है?
abhāvādīni bhūtāni bhāvamadhyāni bhārata | abhāvanidhanāny eva tatra kā paridevanā ||
Vidura says: “O Bhārata, beings begin in non-manifestation, appear only for a while in the middle as manifest, and end again in non-manifestation. When this is the nature of life, what purpose is served by lamentation?”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
All beings are unmanifest before birth, manifest for a limited interval, and unmanifest again at death; recognizing this natural cycle reduces excessive grief and encourages steadiness and dharmic composure.
In the Strī Parva’s mourning aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war, Vidura counsels the bereaved elder (addressed as ‘Bhārata’, i.e., Dhṛtarāṣṭra), urging him to restrain lamentation by reflecting on the transient, conditioned nature of embodied life.