न माम् अवति तद् भुक्तं श्रियं दृष्ट्वा युधिष्ठिरे ॥
ज्वलन्तीम् इव कौन्तेये विवर्णकरणीं मम ॥
सपत्नान् ऋध्यतो ऽऽत्मानं हीयमानं निशाम्य च ॥
अदृश्याम् अपि कौन्तेये स्थितां पश्यन्न् इवोद्यताम् ॥
तस्माद् अहं विवर्णश् च दीनश् च हरिणः कृशः ॥
na mām avati tad bhuktaṃ śriyaṃ dṛṣṭvā yudhiṣṭhire ||
jvalantīm iva kaunteye vivarṇakaraṇīṃ mama ||
sapatnān ṛdhyato ''tmānaṃ hīyamānaṃ niśāmya ca ||
adṛśyām api kaunteye sthitāṃ paśyann ivodyatām ||
tasmād ahaṃ vivarṇaś ca dīnaś ca hariṇaḥ kṛśaḥ ||
'What I have eaten does not nourish me, [for] I have seen Yudhishthira's fortune blazing, as it were, in Kaunteya and making me pale. Seeing my rivals prosper and myself dwindle, I seem to see that fortune of Kaunteya risen up before me, though [to others] it is unseen.'
c2111535870e · published Jul 16, 2026, 3:49:22 PM UTC
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Another's fortune haunts Duryodhana even unseen: he 'sees' it everywhere, and it will not let him eat. It is telling how obsessive envy becomes — it turns into a delusion that obscures life itself. The verse teaches that an unchecked passion takes hold of the imagination: to the envious man his rival seems present even in his absence. And 'what I have eaten does not nourish me' is an exact image: envy strips the taste from every good thing, because it compares them all to another's. Whoever has let this sickness into his heart carries a tormentor within himself; and there is no food, no rest, that could satisfy a soul poisoned by another's prosperity.