Shloka 15
आपद्-राजनीतिः (Āpad-rājanīti) — Policy Options in Multi-Front Crisis
कृतघ्नेषु च या सक्ता नृशंसेष्वलसेषु च | अपकारिषु चासक्ता सा55शा कृशतरी मया
kṛtaghneṣu ca yā saktā nṛśaṃseṣv alaseṣu ca | apakāriṣu cāsaktā sāśā kṛśatarī mayā ||
कृतघ्न, नृशंस, आळशी तसेच परोपकाराऐवजी अपकार करणाऱ्यांमध्ये जी ‘आशा’ आसक्त राहते, ती वारंवार निष्फळ होऊन चिंतेने माणसाला क्षीण करते; म्हणून ती आशा माझ्याहूनही अधिक कृश आहे.
कृश उवाच
Educational Q&A
Hope placed in people who are ungrateful, cruel, lazy, or harmful becomes a source of continual frustration and anxiety; ethically, one should restrain such misplaced expectation and cultivate discernment and detachment.
Kṛśa speaks reflectively, personifying ‘hope’ and describing how attachment to unworthy persons drains one’s strength; the verse functions as moral counsel within the Shānti-parvan’s instruction on conduct and inner steadiness.