Shloka 12

Adhyaya 32: Saṃjaya’s Return, Audience with Dhṛtarāṣṭra, and Ethical Admonition

Devanagari script

यतः प्राप्त: संजय: पाण्डवेभ्यो न मे यथावन्मनस: प्रशान्तिः । सर्वेन्द्रियाण्यप्रकृतिं गतानि कि वक्ष्यतीत्येव मेडद्य प्रचिन्‍्ता,संजय जबसे पाण्डवोंके यहाँसे लौटकर आया है, तबसे मेरे मनको पूर्ण शान्ति नहीं मिलती। सभी इन्द्रियाँ विकल हो रही हैं। कल वह क्या कहेगा, इसी बातकी मुझे इस समय बड़ी भारी चिन्ता हो रही है

Transliteration

yataḥ prāptaḥ sañjayaḥ pāṇḍavebhyo na me yathāvan manasaḥ praśāntiḥ | sarvendriyāṇy aprakṛtiṃ gatāni kiṃ vakṣyatīty eva me’dya pracintā ||

Translation

ധൃതരാഷ്ട്രൻ പറഞ്ഞു— “സഞ്ജയൻ പാണ്ഡവരുടെ അടുക്കൽ നിന്ന് മടങ്ങിവന്നതുമുതൽ എന്റെ മനസ്സിന് യഥാർത്ഥ ശാന്തി ലഭിച്ചിട്ടില്ല. എന്റെ എല്ലാ ഇന്ദ്രിയങ്ങളും കലങ്ങിപ്പോയിരിക്കുന്നു. നാളെ അവൻ എന്ത് പറയും—ഇതുതന്നെയാണ് ഇപ്പോൾ എന്നെ കനത്ത ആശങ്കയിൽ ആക്കുന്നത്.”

Word by Word

• {'yataḥ': 'since, from the time when', 'prāptaḥ': 'returned, arrived', 'sañjayaḥ': 'Sañjaya (Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s charioteer and messenger)', 'pāṇḍavebhyaḥ': 'from the Pāṇḍavas', 'na me': 'not for me / I do not', 'yathāvat': 'properly, fully, as it should be', 'manasaḥ': 'of the mind', 'praśāntiḥ': 'calm, peace, settling of agitation', 'sarva-indriyāṇi': 'all the senses', 'aprakṛtim': 'unnatural state, loss of normal composure', 'gatāni': 'have gone, have fallen into', 'kim': 'what?', 'vakṣyati': 'he will say', 'iti eva': 'thus alone

• just this thought', 'me': 'to me / my', 'adya': 'today, now', 'pracintā': 'intense worry, pressing anxiety'}

Speaker

धृतराष्ट उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• Sañjaya
• Pāṇḍavas

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how attachment and fear of consequences disturb inner peace: even before hearing the message, Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s mind and senses are unsettled. Ethically, it points to the cost of unresolved wrongdoing and the anxiety that precedes unjust conflict.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war negotiations, Sañjaya has returned from the Pāṇḍavas. Dhṛtarāṣṭra confesses that since Sañjaya’s return he cannot rest, and he is consumed by worry about what Sañjaya will report next day.