Shloka 19
Saṃsāra-mārga-vistaraḥ
Vidura’s Expanded Account of the Path
याम्यमाहू रथं होन॑ मुहान्ते येन दुर्बुधा: । स चैतत, प्राप्रुयाद् राजन् यत् त्वं प्राप्तो नराधिप,नरेश्वर! इस संसारको याम्य (यमलोककी प्राप्ति करानेवाला) रथ कहते हैं, जिससे मूर्ख मनुष्य मोहित हो जाते हैं। राजन! जो दुःख आपको प्राप्त हुआ है, वही प्रत्येक अज्ञानी पुरुषको उपलब्ध होता है
yāmyam āhur rathaṁ mohān muhyante yena durbudhāḥ | sa caitat prāpnuyād rājan yat tvaṁ prāpto narādhipa ||
Vidura said: “They call this world the ‘Yama-bound chariot’—a vehicle that carries one toward the realm of Death—yet the foolish, deluded by infatuation, become attached to it. O King, the sorrow that has come upon you is the very same fate that befalls every ignorant man.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly life, though alluring, is ultimately a ‘vehicle’ toward death; attachment born of delusion leads to inevitable sorrow. Vidura urges the king to see grief as a universal consequence of ignorance and to cultivate discernment and detachment.
In Strī Parva, amid the aftermath of the war and pervasive lamentation, Vidura counsels the bereaved king (Dhṛtarāṣṭra). He reframes the king’s suffering as a predictable outcome of moha (delusion) and attachment to saṁsāra.