Shloka 16
भरद्वाजपुत्रवधः
The Slaying of Bharadvāja’s Son and the Sage’s Lament
सुखिनो वै नरा येषां जात्या पुत्रो न विद्यते । ते पुत्रशोकमप्राप्य विचरन्ति यथासुखम्,संसारमें वे मनुष्य सुखी हैं, जिन्हें पुत्र पैदा ही नहीं हुआ है; क्योंकि वे पुत्रशोकका अनुभव न करके सदा सुखपूर्वक विचरते हैं
sukhino vai narā yeṣāṃ jātyā putro na vidyate | te putraśokam aprāpya vicaranti yathāsukham ||
Bharadvāja said: Truly, those men are happy to whom, by fate, no son is born. For, having never encountered the grief that comes from a son, they move through the world at ease, untroubled and content.
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how attachment to offspring can become a source of intense suffering; those without sons avoid the specific grief tied to sons and thus live more untroubled. It points to the ethical insight that worldly bonds, while valued, also carry inevitable vulnerability to sorrow.
Bharadvāja is speaking reflectively, offering a general observation about human happiness and grief: people who never have a son do not undergo ‘putra-śoka’ and therefore pass their lives more comfortably. The statement functions as counsel on the costs of attachment within the broader Vana Parva discourse.