Shloka 43
Puṣkara-Śapatha Itihāsa (Agastya–Indra Dispute at the Tīrthas) | पुष्कर-शपथ-आख्यानम्
विश्वामित्र उवाच काम कामयमानस्य यदा काम: समृध्यते । अथैनमपर: कामस्तृष्णाविध्यति बाणवत्,विश्वामित्र बोले--किसी वस्तुकी कामना करनेवाले मनुष्यकी एक इच्छा जब पूरी होती है, तब दूसरी नयी उत्पन्न हो जाती है। इस प्रकार तृष्णा तीरकी तरह मनुष्यके मनपर चोट करती ही रहती है
Viśvāmitra uvāca: kāmaṁ kāmayamānasya yadā kāmaḥ samṛdhyate | athainam aparaḥ kāmas tṛṣṇā-vidhyati bāṇavat ||
Viśvāmitra said: When a person who longs for pleasures sees one desire fulfilled, then another desire arises in its place. Thus craving keeps striking the mind again and again, like an arrow—showing that indulgence does not end want, but multiplies it.
विश्वामित्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
Fulfilling one desire does not end desire; it generates further desires. Therefore craving (tṛṣṇā) is inherently insatiable and repeatedly wounds the mind, implying the need for restraint and discernment.
Viśvāmitra is delivering a moral instruction: he uses a vivid simile—craving as an arrow—to explain the psychological cycle in which satisfaction of one wish immediately gives rise to another.