Shloka 16
Janamejaya’s Appeal for Pacification and Śaunaka’s Counsel on Humility (जनमेजय-शौनक संवादः)
न मे5स्ति विभवो येन नाशयेयं क्षुधां तव । उत्पन्नेन हि जीवामो वयं नित्यं वनौकस:
na me 'sti vibhavo yena nāśayeyam kṣudhāṃ tava | utpannena hi jīvāmo vayaṃ nityaṃ vanaukasaḥ ||
Bhishma said: “I do not possess the means by which I could remove your hunger. We forest-dwellers live each day only on what comes forth of itself; thus we survive continually on whatever is obtained as it arises.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights ethical realism and contentment: one should acknowledge one’s limited means without deceit, and it praises a life of simple subsistence—living on what is naturally obtained—reflecting restraint and non-attachment.
Bhishma, speaking in the Shanti Parva’s instructional setting, responds to someone’s hunger by stating he lacks the resources to relieve it, explaining that forest-dwellers survive on whatever food or support happens to arise, rather than on stored wealth or assured provisions.