Shloka 18

Devanagari script

सुखं त्वत्तो नाभिजानीम किंचिद्‌ यतस्त्वमक्षैदेवितुं सम्प्रवृत्त: । स्वयं कृत्वा व्यसन पाण्डव त्व- मस्मांस्तीव्रा: श्रावयस्यद्य वाच:

Transliteration

sukhaṃ tvatto nābhijānīma kiñcid yatas tvam akṣaidevituṃ sampravṛttaḥ | svayaṃ kṛtvā vyasanaṃ pāṇḍava tvaṃ asmāṃs tīvrāḥ śrāvayasy adya vācaḥ ||

Translation

ਪਾਂਡੂਪੁੱਤਰ! ਤੇਰੇ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਸਾਨੂੰ ਕਦੇ ਰਤਾ ਭਰ ਵੀ ਸੁਖ ਮਿਲਿਆ ਹੋਵੇ—ਇਹ ਅਸੀਂ ਨਹੀਂ ਜਾਣਦੇ; ਕਿਉਂਕਿ ਤੂੰ ਪਾਸਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਜੂਏ ਦੇ ਨਸ਼ੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਪੈ ਗਿਆ ਹੈਂ। ਆਪ ਹੀ ਇਹ ਬੁਰਾ ਵਿਅਸਨ ਕਰਕੇ ਅੱਜ ਤੂੰ ਸਾਨੂੰ ਕਠੋਰ ਤੇ ਚੁਭਦੇ ਬੋਲ ਸੁਣਾ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈਂ।

Word by Word

• {'sukham': 'happiness, well-being', 'tvattaḥ': 'from you, on your account', 'nābhijānīma': 'we do not know/recognize (1st pl. pres.)', 'kiñcit': 'anything at all, even a little', 'yataḥ': 'because, since', 'tvam': 'you', 'akṣaiḥ': 'with dice (akṣa = die)', 'devitum': 'to play (a game), to gamble', 'sampravṛttaḥ': 'engaged in, set upon, devoted to', 'svayam': 'oneself, personally', 'kṛtvā': 'having done/made', 'vyasanam': 'calamity

• also a vice/addiction (here: gambling as ruinous vice)', 'pāṇḍava': 'O Pāṇḍava (descendant/son of Pāṇḍu)', 'asmān': 'us', 'tīvrāḥ': 'sharp, harsh, severe', 'śrāvayasi': 'you make (us) hear

• you address (causative sense)', 'adya': 'today, now', 'vācaḥ': 'words, speech'}

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Arjuna (speaker, per supplied attribution)
• Pāṇḍava / Pāṇḍukumāra (addressee: a son/descendant of Pāṇḍu)
• akṣa (dice)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse condemns gambling as a destructive vyasana (ruinous vice) and insists on moral accountability: one who causes a disaster through one’s own addiction cannot justly blame others or speak harshly as if wronged.

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker rebukes a Pāṇḍava addressee for being devoted to dice-play and for having personally brought about a calamity; despite that, the addressee is now speaking severe, accusatory words to the speaker’s side.