Shloka 41
Vyāsa’s Counsel to the Concealed Pāṇḍavas; Śaṃkara’s Boon and the Predestination of Draupadī
Chapter 157
स कृच्छामहमापन्नो न शक्तस्तर्तुमापदम् । अहो धिक कां गतिं त्वद्य गमिष्यामि सबान्धव: । सर्वे: सह मृतं श्रेयो न च मे जीवितं क्षमम्,अहो! मैं बड़ी कठिन विपत्तिमें फँस गया हूँ। इससे पार होनेकी मुझमें शक्ति नहीं है। धिक््कार है इस जीवनको। हाय! मैं बन्धु-बान्धवोंके साथ आज किस गतिको प्राप्त होऊँगा? सबके साथ मर जाना ही अच्छा है। मेरा जीवित रहना कदापि उचित नहीं है
sa kṛcchām aham āpanno na śaktas tartum āpadam | aho dhik kāṃ gatiṃ tv adya gamiṣyāmi sabāndhavaḥ | sarvaiḥ saha mṛtaṃ śreyo na ca me jīvitaṃ kṣamam ||
O brāhmana disse: “Caí numa crise dolorosa e não tenho forças para atravessar esta calamidade. Maldita seja esta vida! Ai—que destino alcançarei hoje, junto de meus parentes? Melhor é morrer com eles; pois não é adequado que eu continue a viver.”
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse dramatizes a moral-psychological collapse under calamity: the speaker condemns his own continued life and imagines death with his family as preferable. In Mahābhārata’s ethical world, such speech highlights the danger of despair (viṣāda) overwhelming dharma; it sets up the need for counsel, endurance, and right action even when one feels powerless.
A brāhmaṇa, facing an overwhelming misfortune (āpada), laments that he cannot ‘cross’ it. He fears the fate awaiting him and his relatives and voices a wish that dying together would be better than surviving in disgrace or unbearable suffering.