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 ||
Wika ng brahmana: “Nahulog ako sa isang mabigat na kapahamakan at wala akong lakas upang malampasan ang sakunang ito. Sumpain ang buhay na ito! Ay—anong kapalaran ang mararating ko ngayon, kasama ng aking mga kamag-anak? Mas mabuting mamatay na kasama nila; sapagkat ang patuloy kong mabuhay ay hindi nararapat.”
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.