Shloka 3

अध्याय ३९: विदुरेण धृतराष्ट्राय नीत्युपदेशः

Timely Counsel, Association, and Kin-Duty

Devanagari script

अनृते च समुत्कर्षो राजगामि च पैशुनम्‌ । गुरोश्वनालीकनिर्बन्ध: समानि ब्रह्महत्यया

Transliteration

anṛte ca samutkarṣo rājagāmi ca paiśunam | guroś cānālīka-nirbandhaḥ samāni brahmahatyayā ||

Translation

毗度罗宣示：有些道德过失，其罪重如杀害婆罗门（brāhmaṇa）——以虚妄自矜自高；进谗诽谤，直达君王之耳；以及在涉及师长之事上，仍顽固执拗地坚持不实之言。

Word by Word

अनृतेin falsehood / in untruth

चand

समुत्कर्षःexaltation / self-aggrandizement

राजगामिleading to kings (i.e., reaching the king/court)

चand

पैशुनम्slander / malicious tale-bearing

गुरोःof a teacher / of the preceptor

अनालीकनिर्बन्धःinsistence on (one’s) being not false; obstinate claim of truthfulness

समानिequal (in sin/weight)

ब्रह्महत्ययाwith/like brahmin-slaying (the sin of killing a Brahmin)

Speaker

विदुर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vidura

rājā (the king, generic)

guru (teacher/preceptor, generic)

brahmahatyā (sin of brāhmaṇa-slaying, concept)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Vidura teaches that speech-based wrongs—boasting founded on lies, malicious slander that influences royal judgment, and stubbornly clinging to an untruth (even in relation to one’s teacher)—can be as spiritually and socially ruinous as the gravest sin, brahmahatyā. Truthful, restrained speech is presented as essential to dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Udyoga Parva’s counsel-setting, Vidura is instructing and admonishing about conduct before the great conflict. He highlights how courtly environments amplify the harm of rumor and falsehood—especially when words reach the king—and he underscores the sanctity of truthful dealings with one’s guru.