Shloka 4
Purañjana Goes Hunting — The Chariot of the Body, Violence of Passion, and Return to Conjugal Bondage
चचार मृगयां तत्र दृप्त आत्तेषुकार्मुक: । विहाय जायामतदर्हां मृगव्यसनलालस: ॥ ४ ॥
cacāra mṛgayāṁ tatra dṛpta ātteṣu-kārmukaḥ vihāya jāyām atad-arhāṁ mṛga-vyasana-lālasaḥ
هناك، وقد استبدّ به الزهو، تناول قوسه وسهامه وراح يطوف للصيد. وإذ استولت عليه شهوة الصيد، أهمل ملكته—التي لا يليق به أن يهجرها—ومضى إلى الغابة غير مبالٍ بها.
One form of hunting is known as woman-hunting. A conditioned soul is never satisfied with one wife. Those whose senses are very much uncontrolled especially try to hunt for many women. King Purañjana’s abandoning the company of his religiously married wife is representative of the conditioned soul’s attempt to hunt for many women for sense gratification. Wherever a king goes, he is supposed to be accompanied by his queen, but when the king, or conditioned soul, becomes greatly overpowered by the desire for sense gratification, he does not care for religious principles. Instead, with great pride, he accepts the bow and arrow of attachment and hatred. Our consciousness is always working in two ways — the right way and the wrong way. When one becomes too proud of his position, influenced by the mode of passion, he gives up the right path and accepts the wrong one. Kṣatriya kings are sometimes advised to go to the forest to hunt ferocious animals just to learn how to kill, but such forays are never meant for sense gratification. Killing animals to eat their flesh is forbidden for human beings.
FAQs
This verse portrays hunting as a degrading addiction (vyasana) that inflames pride and pulls the consciousness toward violence and tamas, obstructing dharma and devotion.
Overpowered by the craving for hunting, he becomes arrogant and distracted, abandoning proper responsibility and affection—an allegorical sign of the soul neglecting good counsel and higher intelligence under the sway of passion and ignorance.
Avoid addictive habits that breed pride and cruelty; choose disciplines that protect compassion, responsibility, and remembrance of God—because indulgence in vice erodes relationships and spiritual focus.