Shloka 3

अध्याय ३९: विदुरेण धृतराष्ट्राय नीत्युपदेशः

Timely Counsel, Association, and Kin-Duty

Devanagari script

अनृते च समुत्कर्षो राजगामि च पैशुनम्‌ । गुरोश्वनालीकनिर्बन्ध: समानि ब्रह्महत्यया

Transliteration

anṛte ca samutkarṣo rājagāmi ca paiśunam | guroś cānālīka-nirbandhaḥ samāni brahmahatyayā ||

Translation

ヴィドゥラは宣言する。「ある種の道徳的背反は、婆羅門（brāhmaṇa）殺しの罪に等しい。すなわち、虚言によって己を高く見せること、王の耳に届く讒言と中傷、そして師に関わる事柄においてさえ不実を頑として言い張ることである。」

Word by Word

अनृतेin falsehood / in untruth

चand

समुत्कर्षःexaltation / self-aggrandizement

राजगामिleading to kings (i.e., reaching the king/court)

चand

पैशुनम्slander / malicious tale-bearing

गुरोःof a teacher / of the preceptor

अनालीकनिर्बन्धःinsistence on (one’s) being not false; obstinate claim of truthfulness

समानिequal (in sin/weight)

ब्रह्महत्ययाwith/like brahmin-slaying (the sin of killing a Brahmin)

Speaker

विदुर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vidura

rājā (the king, generic)

guru (teacher/preceptor, generic)

brahmahatyā (sin of brāhmaṇa-slaying, concept)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Vidura teaches that speech-based wrongs—boasting founded on lies, malicious slander that influences royal judgment, and stubbornly clinging to an untruth (even in relation to one’s teacher)—can be as spiritually and socially ruinous as the gravest sin, brahmahatyā. Truthful, restrained speech is presented as essential to dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Udyoga Parva’s counsel-setting, Vidura is instructing and admonishing about conduct before the great conflict. He highlights how courtly environments amplify the harm of rumor and falsehood—especially when words reach the king—and he underscores the sanctity of truthful dealings with one’s guru.