Shloka 3
Saṃsāra-mārga-vistaraḥ
Vidura’s Expanded Account of the Path
यथा तु पुरुषो राजन् दीर्घमध्वानमास्थित: । क्वचित् क्वचिच्छूमाच्छान्त: कुरुते वासमेव वा,नरेश्वर! जिस प्रकार किसी लंबे रास्तेपर चलने-वाला पुरुष परिश्रमसे थककर बीचमें कहीं-कहीं विश्रामके लिये ठहर जाता है, उसी प्रकार इस संसारयात्रामें चलते हुए अज्ञानी पुरुष विश्रामके लिये गर्भवास किया करते हैं। भारत! किंतु विद्वान् पुरुष इस संसारसे मुक्त हो जाते हैं
yathā tu puruṣo rājan dīrgham adhvānam āsthitaḥ | kvacit kvacic chrāmāc chāntaḥ kurute vāsam eva vā ||
Vidura said: “O King, just as a man who has set out on a long journey, when wearied by exertion, stops now and then to rest and make a temporary halt, so too, while moving along the journey of worldly existence, the ignorant take ‘rest’ by entering the womb again and again. But the wise are released from this world.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly life is likened to a long journey: the ignorant repeatedly take ‘halts’ through rebirth (entering the womb), whereas the wise, through knowledge and detachment, attain release (moksha) and do not return.
In Strī Parva, amid grief after the war, Vidura addresses the king and uses a travel metaphor to explain the cycle of existence and the possibility of liberation, steering the listener from despair toward spiritual understanding.