Śoka

Grief, sorrow, affliction. In the Bhagavad Gītā (2.3), Kṛṣṇa urges Arjuna: “Yield not to cowardice, it does not become you; abandon this petty affliction (śoka).” Śoka arises from attachment to the perishable and dissolves through vairagya and knowledge of the eternal. The Upaniṣads link it to ignorance (avidyā) as the root of mental suffering.