Text 16]
Questions by Vidura
15
svayam —he himself;  dhanuḥ dvāri —bow on the door;  nidhāya —keeping;  māyām —the external nature;  bhrātuḥ —brother's;  puraḥ —from the palace;  marmasu —in the core of the heart;  tāḍitaḥ —being afflicted;  api —in spite of;  saḥ —he (Vidura);  ittham —like this;  ati ulbaṇa —severely;  karṇa —ear;  bāṇaiḥ —by the arrows;  gata-vyathaḥ —without being sorry;  ayāt —excited;  uru —great;  mānayānaḥ —so thinking.
TRANSLATION
Thus being pierced by arrows through his ears and afflicted to the core of his heart, Vidura placed his bow on the door and quit his brother's palace. He was not sorry, for he considered the acts of the external energy to be supreme.
PURPORT
A pure devotee of the Lord is never perturbed by an awkward position created by the external energy of the Lord. In  Bhagavad-gītā  it is stated:
prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate.
(Bg. 3.27)
A conditioned soul is absorbed in material existence under the influence of different modes of external energy. Absorbed in the false ego, he thinks that he is doing everything by himself. The external energy of the Lord, the material nature, is fully under the control of the Supreme Lord, and the conditioned soul is fully under the grip of the external energy. Therefore, the conditioned soul is fully under the control of the law of the Lord. But, due to illusion only, he thinks himself independent in his activities. Duryodhana was acting under such influence of the external nature, by which he would be vanquished at the ultimate end. He could not accept the sound advice of Vidura, but on the contrary he insulted that great soul, who was the well-wisher of his whole family. Vidura could understand this because he was a pure devotee of the Lord. In spite of being very strongly insulted by Duryodhana's words, Vidura could see that Duryodhana, under the influence of  māyā , the external energy, was making progress on the path toward his own ruination. He therefore considered the acts of the external energy to be supreme, yet he also saw how the internal energy of the Lord helped him in that particular situation. A devotee is always in a renounced temperament because the worldly attractions can never satisfy him. Vidura was never attracted by the royal palace of his brother. He was always ready to leave the place and devote himself completely to the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Now