Shloka 27
Udyoga Parva Adhyāya 132 — Vidura’s Counsel on Udyama, Yaśas, and Kṣātra-Dharma
लोकस्य समवज्ञातं निहीनासनवाससम् । अहोलाभकरं हीनमल्पजीवनमल्पकम्
lokasya samavajñātaṁ nihīnāsanavāsasam | aholābhakaraṁ hīnam alpajīvanam alpakam ||
ਜੋ ਜਗਤ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਤਿਰਸਕਾਰਿਆ ਹੋਵੇ, ਜਿਸ ਦਾ ਆਸਨ ਤੇ ਬਸਤਰ ਨੀਚ ਹੋਣ, ਜੋ ਕੇਵਲ ਥੋੜ੍ਹਾ ਲਾਭ ਹੀ ਲਿਆਵੇ, ਹਰ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਹੇਠਲਾ ਤੇ ਦਿਨ—ਐਸਾ ਜੀਵਨ ਛੋਟਾ ਅਤੇ ਨਿਰਮੁੱਲਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ।
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vāyu underscores that a life marked by public contempt, degraded conditions, and paltry returns is ethically and existentially ‘small’: it neither sustains dignity nor produces enduring good. The verse functions as a warning against accepting a dishonourable, diminished mode of living as one’s settled condition.
In Udyoga Parva’s counsel-driven context, Vāyu speaks evaluatively about a certain kind of reduced existence—despised by society and materially scant—framing it as short-lived and insignificant. The statement serves as admonition and moral pressure within the broader deliberations that precede the great conflict.