Shloka 403
Sudeva Identifies Damayantī in Cedi (सुदेवेन दमयन्ती-परिचयः)
कर्मणा मनसा वाचा यदिदं दुःखमागतम् । “मनुष्योंको इस जगतमें कोई भी सुख या दुःख ऐसा नहीं मिलता, जो विधाताका दिया हुआ न हो। मैंने बचपनमें भी मन, वाणी अथवा क्रियाद्वारा ऐसा पाप नहीं किया है, जिससे मुझे यह दुःख प्राप्त होता
karmaṇā manasā vācā yad idaṃ duḥkham āgatam |
Bṛhadaśva said: “This sorrow that has come upon me—whether through deed, thought, or speech—(I reflect upon its cause). In this world, no human being receives any happiness or suffering that is not allotted by the Disposer; and I have not, even from childhood, committed such sin by mind, word, or action as would deserve this grief.”
बृहदश्चव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames suffering as something that can be viewed through the lenses of action, thought, and speech, and it gestures toward the idea that experiences of pleasure and pain are dispensed by a higher ordering principle (vidhātṛ). Ethically, it encourages self-scrutiny—examining whether one’s conduct in mind, word, and deed could have generated the present distress—while also acknowledging limits of human control.
Bṛhadaśva speaks reflectively about a sorrow that has befallen him. He considers whether it could be traced to wrongdoing in action, thought, or speech, and asserts that humans do not receive joy or grief apart from what is allotted by the Disposer, adding that he has not knowingly committed sin since childhood that would warrant such suffering.