Shloka 111
Ulūka’s Provocation and Keśava’s Counter-Message (उलूकदूत्ये केशवप्रत्युत्तरम्)
क्व तदा गाण्डिवं ते5भूद् यत् त्वं दासपणैर्जित: । क्व तदा भीमसेनस्य बलमासीच्च फाल्गुन,“दास अर्जुन! जब तुम जूएके दाँवपर जीत लिये गये, उस समय तुम्हारा गाण्डीव धनुष कहाँ था? भीमसेनका बल भी उस समय कहाँ चला गया था?
kva tadā gāṇḍīvaṃ te ’bhūd yat tvaṃ dāsapaṇair jitaḥ | kva tadā bhīmasenasya balam āsīc ca phālguna ||
Санджая сказал: «Где тогда был твой лук Гандив, когда тебя выиграли в игре в кости, поставив на кон рабов? И где, о Фалгуна, была в ту пору сила Бхимасены?»
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical cost of moral lapse: heroic power and famed weapons are meaningless when one is overcome by adharma such as reckless gambling and the loss of self-mastery; true strength includes restraint and right judgment.
Sañjaya, speaking in the Udyoga context of impending war, recalls the earlier dice-hall humiliation and taunts Arjuna: if Arjuna and Bhīma were truly so mighty, why did they not prevent being reduced to servitude through the gambling stakes?