Śoka-śamana: Kṛṣṇa’s Consolation and Nārada’s Exempla to Sṛñjaya
Chapter 29
स्वप्नलब्धा यथा लाभा वितथा: प्रतिबोधने । एवं ते क्षत्रिया राजन ये व्यतीता महारणे,राजन! जैसे सपनेमें मिले हुए धन जगनेपर मिथ्या हो जाते हैं, उसी प्रकार जो क्षत्रिय महासमरमें नष्ट हो गये हैं, उनका दर्शन अब दुर्लभ है
svapnalabdhā yathā lābhā vitathāḥ pratibodhane | evaṁ te kṣatriyā rājan ye vyatītā mahāraṇe ||
स्वप्नलब्धा यथा लाभा वितथाः प्रतिबोधने । एवं ते क्षत्रिया राजन् ये व्यतीता महारणे ॥
वायुदेव उवाच
The verse teaches impermanence: what seems possessed can vanish like dream-wealth at waking. Likewise, the fallen warriors cannot be reclaimed; wisdom lies in accepting the irreversible and loosening attachment to what has passed.
Vāyudeva addresses a king, using the metaphor of dream-gains to explain that the kṣatriyas who died in the great battle are gone beyond retrieval, emphasizing the finality of death after war.