Shloka 11

Devanagari script

अभावादीनि भूतानि भावमध्यानि भारत । अभावनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना,“भरतनन्दन! सभी प्राणी जन्मसे पहले अव्यक्त थे, बीचमें व्यक्त हुए और अन्तमें मृत्युके बाद फिर अव्यक्त ही हो जायँगे, ऐसी दशामें उनोके लिये शोक करनेकी क्या बात है?

Transliteration

abhāvādīni bhūtāni bhāvamadhyāni bhārata | abhāvanidhanāny eva tatra kā paridevanā ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “O Bhārata, all beings begin in unmanifest non-being, appear in the middle as manifest existence, and end again in the unmanifest. Since this is their fixed course, what ground is there for lamentation?”

Word by Word

अभावात्from non-existence / from the unmanifest

एवindeed, only

आदीनिhaving as beginning

भूतानिbeings, creatures

भावmanifestation, existence

मध्यानिhaving as middle

भारतO Bharata

अभावnon-existence / unmanifest state

निधनानिhaving death/end as (their) conclusion

एवindeed, only

तत्रtherein, in that case

काwhat (kind of)?

परिदेवनाlamentation, grieving

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Bhārata (addressee, a Kuru descendant)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Grief is tempered by insight into impermanence: beings are unmanifest before birth, manifest for a time, and return to the unmanifest at death; therefore lamentation over the inevitable course of embodied life is philosophically unfounded.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Strī Parva’s mourning context after the Kurukṣetra war, Vaiśampāyana conveys a consolatory reflection to a Kuru descendant, framing death as part of a universal cycle to restrain overwhelming lamentation.