Субхадра
अद्य पश्यामि पृथिवीं शून्याम् इव हतत्विषम् ॥
अभिमन्युम् अपश्यन्ती शोकव्याकुललोचना ॥
स्वस्रीयं वासुदेवस्य पुत्रं गाण्डीवधन्वनः ॥
कथं त्वा विरथं वीरं द्रक्ष्याम्य् अन्यैर् निपातितम् ॥
हा वीर दृष्टो नष्टश् च धनं स्वप्न इवासि मे ॥
अहो ह्य् अनित्यं मानुष्यं जलबुद्बुदचञ्चलम् ॥
adya paśyāmi pṛthivīṃ śūnyām iva hatatviṣam ||
abhimanyum apaśyantī śokavyākulalocanā ||
svasrīyaṃ vāsudevasya putraṃ gāṇḍīvadhanvanaḥ ||
kathaṃ tvā virathaṃ vīraṃ drakṣyāmy anyair nipātitam ||
hā vīra dṛṣṭo naṣṭaś ca dhanaṃ svapna ivāsi me ||
aho hy anityaṃ mānuṣyaṃ jalabudbudacañcalam ||
"Now I see the earth as if empty, darkened, not seeing Abhimanyu — my eyes dimmed by grief. How shall I see you, the hero without his chariot, Vasudeva's nephew through his sister, son of the wielder of Gandiva, cast down by others? O hero, once beheld and now lost, you are to me like wealth seen in a dream. Oh, how fleeting is human existence, as unstable as a bubble on water!"
8673bb051efc · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:36:52 PM UTC
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From private loss the mother rises to a general truth: 'aho hi anityaṃ mānuṣyaṃ jalabudbudacañcalam' — human life is unstable as a bubble on water. Her son is to her 'dhanaṃ svapnaḥ iva,' wealth glimpsed in a dream and vanished upon waking. It is telling that grief itself leads the mourner toward wisdom about the impermanence of all created things — the very truth with which Krishna had consoled her. The verse teaches that deep loss can open the heart to the frailty of the earthly: a bubble on water is the image in which personal pain grows into insight about the fleetingness of all life.