Shloka 17
कपोती-विलापः स्वर्गसंयोगश्च
The Dove’s Lament and Celestial Reunion
तस्य भार्यासहायस्य रममाणस्य शाश्वतम् । दैवयोगविमूढस्य नान्या वृत्तिररोचत,सदा अपनी स्त्रीके साथ विहार करता हुआ वह बहेलिया दैवयोगसे ऐसा मूढ़ हो गया था कि उसे दूसरी कोई वृत्ति अच्छी ही नहीं लगती थी
tasya bhāryāsahāyasya ramamāṇasya śāśvatam | daivayogavimūḍhasya nānyā vṛttir arocata |
Bhishma said: Ever sporting in the constant company of his wife, that fowler—bewildered by the workings of fate—found no other way of life pleasing. The verse underscores how attachment, when reinforced by a sense of inevitability (“it is destiny”), can narrow one’s moral and practical choices until alternative duties and disciplines no longer appeal.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Unchecked attachment can constrict one’s sense of duty and possibility; when a person excuses fixation as ‘fate,’ discernment weakens and other wholesome modes of conduct no longer attract the mind.
Bhishma describes a man (a fowler/hunter by context) who spends his time continually enjoying with his wife; due to delusion arising from providential circumstances, he finds no alternative occupation or discipline appealing.