Shloka 36

Vidura’s Message to Dhṛtarāṣṭra: Authorization for Dāna and Public Welfare (विदुरवाक्यम्—दानानुज्ञा)

Devanagari script

देवगुह्ामिदं प्रीत्या मया व: कथितं महत्‌ | भवन्तो हि श्रुतधनास्तपसा दग्धकिल्बिषा:

Transliteration

devaguhyam idaṁ prītyā mayā vaḥ kathitaṁ mahat | bhavanto hi śrutadhanās tapasā dagdhakilbiṣāḥ ||

Translation

हा महान विषय देवांचा गुप्त रहस्य आहे; परंतु तुमच्यावरील प्रीतीमुळे मी तो सांगितला. तुम्ही श्रुती-धनाने संपन्न आहात आणि तपस्येने पापरहित झाला आहात।

Word by Word

• {'devaguhyam': 'a secret (guhya) belonging to/known among the gods', 'idam': 'this', 'prītyā': 'out of affection, with goodwill', 'mayā': 'by me', 'vaḥ': 'to you (plural)', 'kathitam': 'told, narrated, disclosed', 'mahat': 'great, weighty, important', 'bhavantaḥ': 'you (honorific plural)', 'hi': 'indeed, for', 'śrutadhanāḥ': 'those whose wealth is śruti

• rich in Vedic learning', 'tapasā': 'by austerity, through ascetic practice', 'dagdha': 'burned up, consumed', 'kilbiṣāḥ': 'sins, moral taints, demerit'}

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Nārada
• devas (the gods)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Esoteric instruction should be shared with discernment: those grounded in Vedic learning and purified by austerity are fit recipients of hidden counsel, and affection (prīti) can motivate responsible revelation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Nārada addresses his listeners and justifies why he is revealing a divine secret: he trusts their spiritual qualification—scriptural mastery and sinlessness attained through tapas—so the disclosure is appropriate.