Shloka 5
शोक-शमन उपदेशः
Instruction on the Pacification of Grief
यदा प्राज्ञाश्न मूढाश्न धनवन्तो5थ निर्धना: । सर्वे पितृवनं प्राप्प स्वपन्ति विगतज्वरा:,जब दिद्वान्-मूर्ख, धनवान् और निर्धन सभी श्मशान-भूमिमें जाकर निश्चिन्त सो जाते हैं, उस समय उनके मांसरहित नाड़ियोंसे बँधे हुए तथा अस्थिबहुल अंगोंको देखकर क्या दूसरे लोग वहाँ उनमें कोई ऐसा अन्तर देख पाते हैं, जिससे वे उनके कुल और रूपकी विशेषताको समझ सकें; फिर भी वे मनुष्य एक-दूसरेको क्यों चाहते हैं? इसलिये कि उनकी बुद्धि ठगी गयी है
yadā prājñāś ca mūḍhāś ca dhanavanto 'tha nirdhanāḥ | sarve pitṛvanaṁ prāpya svapanti vigatajvarāḥ ||
When the wise and the foolish, the wealthy and the poor—all alike—reach the ‘forest of the ancestors’ (the cremation ground) and lie down there free from all feverish striving, who can then discern any difference among them by which lineage, beauty, or social distinction might be known? Yet people still cling to one another and form attachments as though such differences were enduring—because their understanding is deluded.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vidura underscores the equalizing truth of death: wisdom and folly, wealth and poverty, lineage and beauty all lose their meaning at the cremation ground. Therefore, obsessive attachment and pride in social distinctions are forms of delusion; ethical clarity arises from remembering impermanence and cultivating detachment.
In the Stree Parva’s aftermath of the war, Vidura speaks in a reflective, admonitory tone. He points to the cremation ground as the ultimate witness that worldly differences collapse, urging listeners to reconsider grief, pride, and attachment in light of mortality.