Mahabharata — Ashramavasika Parva, Shloka 24
अश्रमवासिनां विषादः — Lament in Hastināpura after the Elders’ Forest Withdrawal
अद्य चाप्यवगच्छामि गतिमिष्टामिहात्मन:
adya cāpy avagacchāmi gatim iṣṭām ihātmanaḥ
“At ngayong araw din, malinaw kong nauunawaan ang minimithing landas at tadhanang nakalaan sa aking sarili rito.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes discernment of one’s rightful and desired life-direction (gati) in the present—an ethical-spiritual pivot from external power and grief toward inner clarity, duty, and detachment.
Within the Āśramavāsika context—where the elders withdraw to the forest and the aftermath of the war is being processed—the line marks a moment of personal realization: the speaker expresses that he now understands the destined/cherished path for himself in this very situation.
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