Shloka 22
कर्णसेनापत्यारम्भः — Karṇa’s Appointment and the Report to Dhṛtarāṣṭra
Chapter 1
तथा शान्तनवं वृद्ध ब्रह्मन् बाह्लीकमेव च । द्रोणं च सोमदत्तं च भूरिश्रवसमेव च,ब्रह्मन! उन्होंने वृद्ध शान्तनुनन्दन भीष्म, बाह्नीक, द्रोण, सोमदत्त तथा भूरिश्रवाको और अन्यान्य सुहृदों, पुत्रों एवं पौत्रोंको भी शत्रुओंद्वारा मारा गया सुनकर भी जो अपने प्राण नहीं छोड़े, उससे मुझे यही मालूम होता है कि मनुष्यके लिये स्वेच्छापूर्वक मरना बहुत कठिन है
tathā śāntanavaṁ vṛddha brahman bāhlīkam eva ca | droṇaṁ ca somadattaṁ ca bhūriśravasam eva ca ||
阇那美阇耶说道：“尊贵的婆罗门啊，同样我也听闻年迈的商檀那之子（毗湿摩）、以及婆诃利迦，又有德罗纳、苏摩达多与布梨湿罗婆斯。纵然得知这些人以及许多其他至亲善友——儿子与孙子——皆为仇敌所杀，他仍未舍弃生命。由此我以为：对人而言，凭自身意志而死——有意放下此命——实在极其艰难。”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a moral-psychological insight: even amid overwhelming bereavement, relinquishing life by sheer will is not easy. Human beings are bound by attachment, duty, and the momentum of life (prāṇa), so ‘voluntary death’ is portrayed as exceptionally difficult.
In the frame dialogue, Janamejaya addresses the Brahmin narrator and lists major elders and warriors—Bhīṣma, Bāhlīka, Droṇa, Somadatta, and Bhūriśravas—who were slain. He reflects that despite hearing of such losses (of friends, sons, and grandsons), the person in question did not give up his life, prompting Janamejaya’s observation about the difficulty of dying by choice.