Shloka 9

Śoka-śamana: Kṛṣṇa’s Consolation and Nārada’s Exempla to Sṛñjaya

Chapter 29

Devanagari script

स्वप्नलब्धा यथा लाभा वितथा: प्रतिबोधने । एवं ते क्षत्रिया राजन ये व्यतीता महारणे

Transliteration

svapnalabdhā yathā lābhā vitathāḥ pratibodhane | evaṁ te kṣatriyā rājan ye vyatītā mahāraṇe ||

Translation

风神伐由说道：“大王啊，譬如梦中所得之利，醒来便成虚妄；同样，你那些在大决战中逝去的刹帝利，如今已不可复得，难以再见。”

Word by Word

• स्वप्न-लब्धाः: obtained in a dream
• स्वप्न-लब्धाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: स्वप्न + लब्ध (√लभ्)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• यथा: just as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• लाभाः: gains, acquisitions
• लाभाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: लाभ
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• वितथाः: false, unreal
• वितथाः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: वितथ
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• प्रतिबोधने: upon waking, at awakening
• प्रतिबोधने: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रतिबोधन
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• एवम्: thus, in the same way
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एवम्

• ते: those (they)
• ते: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• क्षत्रियाः: kshatriyas, warriors
• क्षत्रियाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्षत्रिय
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• राजन्: O king
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन्
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• ये: who
• ये: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• व्यतीताः: gone, passed away
• व्यतीताः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: व्यतीत (√इ + वि + अति)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• महा-रणे: in the great battle
• महा-रणे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: महत् + रण
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu (Vāyudeva)
• King (Rājan)
• Kṣatriyas
• Mahāraṇa (the great battle)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches impermanence: what seems possessed can vanish like dream-wealth at waking. Likewise, the fallen warriors cannot be reclaimed; wisdom lies in accepting the irreversible and loosening attachment to what has passed.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva addresses a king, using the metaphor of dream-gains to explain that the kṣatriyas who died in the great battle are gone beyond retrieval, emphasizing the finality of death after war.