Mahabharata 3.2.38 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 2, Shloka 38
ब्राह्मणानुयात्रा—शौनकोपदेशः
Brāhmaṇas Follow into Exile and Śaunaka’s Instruction
यथैध: स्वसमुत्थेन वह्लिना नाशमृच्छति । तथाकृतात्मा लोभेन सहजेन विनश्यति
yathaidhāḥ svasamutthena vahninā nāśam ṛcchati | tathākṛtātmā lobhena sahajena vinaśyati ||
Wie das Feuer, das aus dem Holz selbst entsteht, eben dieses Holz bis zur Vernichtung verzehrt, so wird auch der Mensch, der sich nicht gemeistert hat, durch angeborene Gier zugrunde gerichtet—Gier, die mit dem Leib geboren ist—und bereitet seinen eigenen Sturz.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Unchecked, inborn greed functions like a self-generated fire: it consumes the very person who harbors it. The verse urges self-mastery (ātma-niyama) as a safeguard against self-destruction.
Vaiśampāyana delivers a moral reflection using a vivid simile—wood destroyed by its own fire—to explain how an undisciplined person is ruined by natural greed, reinforcing the ethical lesson within the ongoing discourse of the Vana Parva.
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