Mahabharata 17: Not ‘pon The Cool Of Wisdom School Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

Worries weighing in their thousand,
Fears, apprehensions in hundred
Day by day cast spell ‘pon a fool,
Not ‘pon the wise of wisdom school!
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Here is the transliteration of the original verse:

shoka-sthāni sahasrāņibhaya-sthāni shatāni cha |
divase divase mūđham āvishanti na paņđitam || vana 2-16 ||

After their defeat at the gambling game when Pandavas set off for an exile in forest, some Brahmins accompanied, though Yudhishthir dissuaded them. There was a learned sage Shaunak, an expert in karma-yoga and Saankhya. To soothe their feelings, he gave a discourse once they settled down on the banks of river Ganges on the first night. Sage Vyasa who created this epic seems to like this particular verse as he has repeated it many times along with a few other verses: Most fears and worries are the product of a deluded mind. Man should remain in touch with his essential nature, which is joy and bliss (ānanda) .