Shloka 23
कर्णसेनापत्यारम्भः — Karṇa’s Appointment and the Report to Dhṛtarāṣṭra
Chapter 1
तथैव चान्यान् सुह्ृद:ः पुत्रान् पौत्रांश्व पातितान् । श्रुत्वा यन्नाजहात् प्राणांस्तन्मन्ये दुष्करं द्विज
tathaiva cānyān suhṛdaḥ putrān pautrāṁś ca pātitān | śrutvā yan nājahāt prāṇāṁs tan manye duṣkaraṁ dvija ||
Wika ni Janamejaya: “Gayundin, nang marinig niyang ang iba pang minamahal na kaibigan, pati mga anak at mga apo, ay nabuwal na, hindi pa rin niya iniwan ang buhay. Kaya, O ‘dalawang ulit na isinilang,’ napagwawari ko na napakahirap para sa tao ang mamatay ayon sa sariling kalooban—ang sadyang pagbitaw sa buhay.”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a psychological-ethical insight: even amid overwhelming bereavement, relinquishing life by sheer will is not easy; the instinct to live and the complexity of human duty and attachment make voluntary death a difficult act.
Janamejaya, listening to the war account, reflects on how someone who heard that many close relations—friends, sons, and grandsons—had been killed still did not give up his life, and he asks the sage to note how hard it is for a person to choose death intentionally.