Shloka 53
Adhyāya 136: Yavakrī–Bharadvāja Saṃvāda and the Bāladhī–Dhanuṣākṣa Gāthā
Arrogance, Boons, and Nimitta
स निमित्ते विनष्टे तु ममार सहसा शिशु: । त॑ मृतं पुत्रमादाय विललाप ततः पिता,निमित्तका नाश होते ही उस मुनिकुमारकी सहसा मृत्यु हो गयी। तदनन्तर पिता उस मरे हुए पुत्रको लेकर अत्यन्त विलाप करने लगे
sa nimitte vinaṣṭe tu mamāra sahasā śiśuḥ | taṁ mṛtaṁ putram ādāya vilalāpa tataḥ pitā |
When the omen (that had been sustaining his life) was destroyed, the child suddenly died. Then the father, taking up his dead son, broke into bitter lamentation—an image of how fragile life becomes when its protecting conditions are undone, and how grief follows the collapse of hope.
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the dependence of embodied life on supporting conditions (nimitta) and the inevitability of sorrow when those conditions fail; it invites reflection on impermanence and the ethical need for steadiness and compassion in the face of loss.
Bharadvaja narrates that once the determining sign/condition was destroyed, the child died suddenly; the father then lifted the dead boy and began to wail in intense grief.