Srimad Bhagavatam — Panchama Skandha, Shloka 3
The Forest of Material Existence (Saṁsāra-vana) and the Delivering Path of Bharata’s Teachings
अथ च यत्र कौटुम्बिका दारापत्यादयो नाम्ना कर्मणा वृकसृगाला एवानिच्छतोऽपि कदर्यस्य कुटुम्बिन उरणकवत्संरक्ष्यमाणं मिषतोऽपि हरन्ति ॥ ३ ॥
atha ca yatra kauṭumbikā dārāpatyādayo nāmnā karmaṇā vṛka-sṛgālā evānicchato ’pi kadaryasya kuṭumbina uraṇakavat saṁrakṣyamāṇaṁ miṣato ’pi haranti.
My dear King, family members in this material world go under the names of wife and children, but actually they behave like tigers and jackals. A herdsman tries to protect his sheep to the best of his ability, but the tigers and foxes take them away by force. Similarly, although a miserly man wants to guard his money very carefully, his family members take away all his assets forcibly, even though he is very vigilant.
One Hindi poet has sung: din kā dakinī rāt kā bāghinī pālak pālak lahu cuse. During the daytime, the wife is compared to a witch, and at night she is compared to a tigress. Her only business is sucking the blood of her husband both day and night. During the day there are household expenditures, and the money earned by the husband at the cost of his blood is taken away. At night, due to sex pleasure, the husband discharges blood in the form of semen. In this way he is bled by his wife both day and night, yet he is so crazy that he very carefully maintains her. Similarly, the children are also like tigers, jackals and foxes. As tigers, jackals and foxes take away lambs despite the herdsman’s vigilant protection, children take away the father’s money, although the father supervises the money himself. Thus family members may be called wives and children, but actually they are plunderers.
FAQs
This verse says that mere family labels do not guarantee compassion—relatives can act like “wolves and jackals,” taking a householder’s wealth even as he watches, showing how attachment without spiritual purpose leads to suffering.
In the allegory of the material world as a dangerous forest, he uses sharp imagery to expose how greed and possessiveness can corrupt relationships, making the conditioned soul feel plundered despite trying to protect his possessions.
Use it to reduce possessiveness and financial anxiety, practice generosity and dharma, and center family life on bhakti—so relationships become service-oriented rather than driven by exploitation or fear of loss.