Shloka 17
भीष्मरक्षण-प्रकरणम् / The Protective Screen around Bhīṣma and the Śalya–Yudhiṣṭhira Clash
मुमूर्षुर्हि नर: सर्वान् वृक्षान् पश्यति काउचनान् । तथा त्वमपि गान्धारे विपरीतानि पश्यसि
sañjaya uvāca | mumūrṣur hi naraḥ sarvān vṛkṣān paśyati kāñcanān | tathā tvam api gāndhāre viparītāni paśyasi |
Wika ni Sañjaya: “Ang taong nasa bingit ng kamatayan ay nakikita ang lahat ng puno na wari’y ginto. Gayon din, O anak ni Gāndhārī, nakikita mo ang lahat nang baligtad at baluktot.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
A mind clouded by impending ruin or overpowering attachment misperceives reality—seeing what is harmful as desirable and what is right as wrong. The verse warns that distorted perception leads to unethical judgment and disastrous decisions.
Sañjaya, reporting and advising during the Kurukṣetra crisis, rebukes Dhṛtarāṣṭra: like a dying man hallucinating trees as golden, the king is viewing events ‘in reverse’—misreading signs, counsel, and consequences due to attachment and confusion.