Shloka 11

Udyoga Parva, Adhyāya 40 — Vidura’s Ethical Counsel and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Fatalistic Turn

Devanagari script

य॑ श्रुत्वायं मनुष्येन्द्र: सर्वदुःखातिगो भवेत्‌ | लाभालाभौ प्रियद्वेष्यौ यथैनं न जरान्तकौ

Transliteration

yaḥ śrutvāyaṃ manuṣyendraḥ sarvaduḥkhātigo bhavet | lābhālābhau priyadveṣyau yathainaṃ na jarāntakau ||

Translation

毗舍波耶那说道：“听闻此言，世间之王便能超越一切忧苦。得与失、可爱与可憎都不再能压倒他——正如老与死也不能战胜那已如是安住之人。”

Word by Word

यःwho

श्रुत्वाhaving heard

अयम्this (one)

मनुष्येन्द्रःking of men

सर्वदुःखातिगःone who has gone beyond all sorrows

भवेत्would become / may become

लाभालाभौgain and loss

प्रियद्वेष्यौthe dear and the hateful

यथाso that / in such a way that

एनम्him

नnot

जरान्तकौold age and death (as two enders)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Antaka (Death)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse praises inner steadiness: one who truly assimilates the teaching becomes free from being shaken by opposites—gain/loss and pleasant/unpleasant—thus transcending sorrow through equanimity and self-mastery.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, concludes a point by stating the transformative effect of the instruction just given: hearing and internalizing it makes even a ruler rise above grief, no longer dominated by worldly fluctuations.