Shloka 50
Śukra’s Ultimatum and Devayānī’s Demand (शुक्र-प्रतिज्ञा तथा देवयानी-वर-याचना)
न जातु काम: कामानामुपभोगेन शाम्यति । हविषा कृष्णवर्त्मेव भूय एवाभिवर्धते,“विषय-भोगकी इच्छा विषयोंका उपभोग करनेसे कभी शान्त नहीं हो सकती। घीकी आहुति डालनेसे अधिक प्रज्वलित होनेवाली आगकी भाँति वह और भी बढ़ती ही जाती है!
na jātu kāmaḥ kāmānām upabhogena śāmyati | haviṣā kṛṣṇavartmeva bhūya evābhivardhate ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Desire for sense-objects is never quenched by indulging in them. Like a fire with a dark, smoke-streaked path that flares up when ghee is poured into it, desire only grows stronger the more it is fed.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Indulgence does not end craving; it strengthens it. The verse teaches restraint and discernment: feeding desire is like adding ghee to fire—what seems to satisfy actually intensifies the appetite, so ethical living requires governing the senses rather than obeying them.
Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, delivers a general moral observation within the Adi Parva’s instructional storytelling: he frames desire as a self-reinforcing force and uses a vivid sacrificial-fire image to warn that pursuit of pleasures leads to escalation rather than peace.