Dhṛtarāṣṭra Quits Home

Verse 59 (SB 1.13.59)

SB 1.13.58

SB 1.13.60

SB 1.13.59 • मूल श्लोक

विदुरस्तु तदाश्चर्यं निशाम्य कुरुनन्दन । हर्षशोकयुतस्तस्माद् गन्ता तीर्थनिषेवक: ॥ ५९ ॥

Transliteration

viduras tu tad āścaryaṁ niśāmya kuru-nandana harṣa-śoka-yutas tasmād gantā tīrtha-niṣevakaḥ

Synonyms (Word-for-Word)

viduraḥ — Vidura also; tu — but; tat — that incident; āścaryam — wonderful; niśāmya — seeing; kuru-nandana — O son of the Kuru dynasty; harṣa — delight; śoka — grief; yutaḥ — affected by; tasmāt — from that place; gantā — will go away; tīrtha — place of pilgrimage; niṣevakaḥ — for being enlivened.

Translation

“Vidura, being affected with delight and grief, will then leave that place of sacred pilgrimage.”

Bhaktivedanta Purport

By Śrīla Prabhupāda

Vidura was astonished to see the marvelous departure of his brother Dhṛtarāṣṭra as a liberated yogī, for in his past life he was much attached to materialism. Of course it was only due to Vidura that his brother attained the desirable goal of life. Vidura was therefore glad to learn about it. But he was sorry that he could not make his brother turn into a pure devotee. This was not done by Vidura because of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s being inimical to the Pāṇḍavas, who were all devotees of the Lord. An offense at the feet of a Vaiṣṇava is more dangerous than an offense at the lotus feet of the Lord. Vidura was certainly very liberal to bestow mercy upon his brother Dhṛtarāṣṭra, whose past life was very materialistic. But ultimately the result of such mercy certainly depended on the will of the Supreme Lord in the present life; therefore Dhṛtarāṣṭra attained liberation only, and after many such liberated states of life one can attain to the stage of devotional service. Vidura was certainly very mortified by the death of his brother and sister-in-law, and the only remedy to mitigate such lamentation was to go out to pilgrimage. Thus Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira had no chance to call back Vidura, his surviving uncle.