Shloka 22
Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)
वैद्याश्नाप्पातुरा: सन्ति बलवन्तश्न दुर्बला: | श्रीमन्तक्षापरे षण्ढा विचित्र: कालपर्यय:,कभी-कभी वैद्य भी रोगी, बलवान् भी दुर्बल और श्रीमान् भी असमर्थ हो जाते हैं, यह समयका उलट-फेर बड़ा अदभुत है
vaidyaś cāpi āturāḥ santi, balavantaś ca durbalāḥ | śrīmantaś cāpy aśaktāḥ, vicitraḥ kāla-paryayaḥ ||
জনক বললেন—কখনও চিকিৎসকও রোগাক্রান্ত হয়, শক্তিমানও দুর্বল হয়ে পড়ে, আর ধনীও ক্ষয়প্রাপ্ত হয়ে অসহায় হয়; কালের এই বিচিত্র উলট-পালট সত্যিই আশ্চর্য।
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the inevitability of change: Time can overturn health, strength, and wealth. Recognizing this supports humility, non-attachment, and steadiness in dharma despite shifting external conditions.
Janaka is speaking reflectively, pointing to everyday examples—doctors becoming patients, the strong becoming weak, the rich becoming helpless—to illustrate the unpredictable reversals caused by Time and to ground an ethical stance of detachment and equanimity.