Shloka 9

अध्याय ३३१: नारायणकथा-प्रशंसा तथा नारदस्य श्वेतद्वीप-निवृत्ति एवं बदरी-आगमनम् | Chapter 331: Praise of the Nārāyaṇa Narrative; Nārada’s Return from Śvetadvīpa and Arrival at Badarī

Devanagari script

मृतं वा यदि वा नष्ट यो5तीतमनुशोचति । दुःखेन लभते दुःखं द्वावनर्थो प्रपद्यते,जो मनुष्य भूतकालमें मरे हुए किसी व्यक्तिके लिये अथवा नष्ट हुई किसी वस्तुके लिये निरन्तर शोक करता है, वह एक दुःखसे दूसरे दुःखको प्राप्त होता है। इस प्रकार उसे दो अनर्थ भोगने पड़ते हैं

Transliteration

mṛtaṃ vā yadi vā naṣṭaṃ yo'tītam anuśocati | duḥkhena labhate duḥkhaṃ dvāv anarthau prapadyate ||

Translation

കഴിഞ്ഞുപോയതിനെ—മരിച്ച ഒരാളിനെയോ നഷ്ടപ്പെട്ട വസ്തുവിനെയോ—കുറിച്ച് തുടർച്ചയായി വിലപിക്കുന്നവൻ ഒരു ദുഃഖത്തിൽ നിന്ന് മറ്റൊരു ദുഃഖത്തിലേക്ക് വീഴുന്നു; ഇങ്ങനെ അവൻ ഇരട്ട അനർത്ഥം അനുഭവിക്കുന്നു.

Word by Word

मृतम्dead (person/thing)

वाor

यदिif

वाor

नष्टम्lost, destroyed

यःwho

अतीतम्past, gone by

अनुशोचतिgrieves over, laments

दुःखेनby/with sorrow

लभतेobtains, meets with

दुःखम्sorrow

द्वौtwo

अनर्थौmisfortunes, harms

प्रपद्यतेfalls into, incurs

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

Nārada

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?

Do not cling to the irreversible past through continual lamentation. Grief over death or loss, when prolonged and indulged, adds a second, avoidable suffering to the first unavoidable loss—thus producing ‘two harms’.

What is happening in the narrative?

Nārada is instructing a listener in the Śānti Parva’s ethical-discursive setting, emphasizing inner discipline: how one should respond to death and loss with steadiness rather than repetitive mourning that multiplies suffering.