Shloka 4

Sanatsujāta-Āhvāna (Summoning Sanatsujāta) — Vidura’s Invocation and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Doubt

Devanagari script

उभे सत्ये क्षत्रियैतस्य विद्धि मोहान्मृत्यु: सम्मतो5यं कवीनाम्‌ । प्रमाद॑ वै मृत्युमहं ब्रवीमि तथाप्रमादममृतत्वं ब्रवीमि,क्षत्रिय! इस प्रश्नके उक्त दोनों ही पहलुओंको सत्य समझो। कुछ विद्वानोंने मोहवश इस मृत्युकी सत्ता स्वीकार की है; किंतु मेरा कहना तो यह है कि प्रमाद ही मृत्यु है और अप्रमाद ही अमृत है

Transliteration

ubhe satye kṣatriyaitasya viddhi mohān mṛtyuḥ sammato ’yaṃ kavīnām | pramādaṃ vai mṛtyum ahaṃ bravīmi tathāpramādam amṛtatvaṃ bravīmi, kṣatriya ||

Translation

“Ketahuilah, wahai Kshatriya, bahawa kedua-dua sisi perkara ini adalah benar. Sebahagian penyair dan resi, kerana khayal dan kesesatan, menerima maut sebagai kuasa yang nyata dan muktamad; namun aku menyatakan bahawa kelalaian itulah maut, dan tidak lalai itulah keabadian.”

Word by Word

• {'ubhe': 'both (two)', 'satye': 'true, valid (dual of satya)', 'kṣatriya': 'Kshatriya

• here, an address to the king', 'etasya': 'of this (matter/question)', 'viddhi': 'know (imperative of √vid)', 'mohāt': 'from delusion, due to confusion (ablative of moha)', 'mṛtyuḥ': 'death', 'sammataḥ': 'considered, accepted as authoritative/true', 'ayam': 'this', 'kavīnām': 'of poets/sages (genitive plural of kavi)', 'pramāda': 'heedlessness, negligence, moral-spiritual carelessness', 'vai': 'indeed, emphatic particle', 'bravīmi': 'I say, I declare (1st sg. of √brū)', 'tathā': 'and likewise, similarly', 'apramāda': 'non-negligence

• vigilance, wakeful care', 'amṛtatva': 'immortality

Speaker

सनत्युजात उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sanatsujata

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Sanatsujata reframes death and immortality ethically: 'death' is not merely a physical event but the inner collapse caused by pramāda (heedlessness), while 'immortality' is the steady wakefulness of apramāda—disciplined attention to dharma, truth, and self-control.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Sanatsujātīya section of Udyoga Parva, the sage Sanatsujata instructs a Kshatriya king on profound questions about death, delusion, and the path to fearlessness. This verse contrasts common views that treat death as an ultimate reality with Sanatsujata’s teaching that moral-spiritual negligence is the real 'death.'