Shloka 20
Saṃsāra-Gahana Allegory: The Brāhmaṇa in the Forest and Well (संसारगहन-आख्यान)
न चास्य जीविते राजन् निर्वेद: समजायत
na cāsya jīvite rājan nirvedaḥ samajāyata
王よ、彼は自らの命について、厭離も悔恨も少しも起こさなかった。起こったことの後でさえ、悔い改めや離欲の心をもって内へと向き直ることがなかった。
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vidura highlights a moral failure: even after catastrophic events, a person may remain untouched by remorse or dispassion. The verse implies that ethical awakening is shown by nirveda—an inner turning away from wrongdoing and worldly fixation—without which reform and dharmic clarity do not arise.
In Strī Parva, amid grief and reckoning after the war, Vidura addresses the king and comments on a particular person’s inner state: despite the situation, no nirveda arose in him regarding his own life, indicating continued attachment or lack of repentance.