Shloka 136
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Remorse and Vyāsa’s Teaching on Impermanence (Śoka-nivāraṇa)
अल्पकालस्य राज्यस्य कृते मूढेन घातित: । जिन्होंने हमें बचपनसे पाल-पोसकर बड़ा किया और सब प्रकारसे हमारी रक्षा की, उन्हींको मुझ पापी, राज्य-लोभी, गुरुघाती एवं मूर्खने थोड़े समयतक रहनेवाले राज्यके लिये मरवा डाला
alpākālasya rājyasya kṛte mūḍhena ghātitaḥ |
Yudhiṣṭhira than khóc: Vì một vương quyền chỉ tồn tại trong thời gian ngắn, ta—mù quáng bởi lòng ham ngôi báu, ngu muội và mang tội—đã trở thành nguyên nhân khiến chính những bậc trưởng thượng, những người đã nuôi nấng và che chở ta từ thuở ấu thơ, phải bị giết hại.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly power is transient, but moral debts—gratitude to protectors, reverence to elders/teachers, and responsibility for violence—are enduring. Pursuing a short-lived kingdom at the cost of dharma leads to lasting remorse and self-condemnation.
In Śānti Parva, after the devastation of the Kurukṣetra war, Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the catastrophe and blames himself. He says that for a brief, impermanent sovereignty he became the cause of the slaughter of those who had nurtured and protected him, expressing intense guilt and ethical anguish.