Shloka 151

Devanagari script

हतो देश: पुरं दग्धं प्रधान: कुञ्जरो मृतः । लोकसाधारणेष्वेषु मिथ्याज्ञानेन तप्यते,“हाय! देश नष्ट हो गया, सारा नगर आगसे जल गया और वह प्रधान हाथी मर गया।' यद्यपि ये सब बातें सब लोगोंके लिये साधारण हैं--सबपर समान रूपसे ये कष्ट प्राप्त होते हैं तथापि राजा अपने मिथ्याज्ञानके कारण केवल अपनी ही हानि समझकर संतप्त होता रहता है

Transliteration

hato deśaḥ puraṁ dagdhaṁ pradhānaḥ kuñjaro mṛtaḥ | lokasādhāraṇeṣv eṣu mithyājñānena tapyate ||

Translation

Бхишма сказал: «Страна разорена, город сожжён, и главный слон мёртв». Хотя такие бедствия общи для всех людей — несчастья, которые могут постигнуть любого, — царь из-за ложного понимания скорбит так, словно это лишь его личная утрата, и продолжает изнутри сгорать от печали.

Word by Word

• {'hataḥ': 'destroyed, struck down', 'deśaḥ': 'country, region, realm', 'puram': 'city, fortified town', 'dagdham': 'burnt, consumed by fire', 'pradhānaḥ': 'chief, principal, foremost', 'kuñjaraḥ': 'elephant', 'mṛtaḥ': 'dead', 'lokasādhāraṇa': 'common to all people

• universally shared', 'eṣu': 'in these (matters/circumstances)', 'mithyājñāna': 'false knowledge

• delusion', 'tapyate': 'is tormented

Speaker

भीष्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• king (rājā, implied)
• deśa (realm/country)
• pura (city)
• pradhāna kuñjara (chief elephant)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Suffering intensifies when one appropriates universal misfortunes as uniquely “mine.” Bhīṣma points to mithyājñāna—mistaken self-centered cognition—as the cause of prolonged grief; clearer understanding sees loss as part of the common human condition and supports steadiness and right judgment.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma cites a set of public calamities—ruined land, a burned city, and the death of a prized chief elephant—to illustrate how a king becomes inwardly tormented, not merely by events themselves, but by interpreting them through delusion as a purely personal catastrophe.