Mahabharata — Shanti Parva, Shloka 24
अव्यक्त-मानस-सृष्टिवादः
Doctrine of Creation from the Unmanifest ‘Mānasa’
स्नेहेन तिलवत् सर्व सर्गचक्रे निपीड्यते । तिलपीडैरिवाक्रम्य क्लेशैरज्ञानसम्भवै:
snehena tilavat sarva-sarga-cakre nipīḍyate | tila-pīḍair ivākramya kleśair ajñāna-sambhavaiḥ ||
The Brāhmaṇa said: “Through attachment (sneha), beings are crushed within the revolving wheel of worldly creation, like sesame seeds in an oil-press. Trampled and pressed by sufferings born of ignorance, they keep getting ground down in the cycle of existence.”
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Attachment (sneha) binds beings to the cycle of worldly becoming (sarga-cakra) and makes them vulnerable to afflictions (kleśa) that arise from ignorance (ajñāna). The verse urges cultivating discernment and detachment to avoid being ‘ground down’ by saṃsāra.
A Brāhmaṇa speaker uses a vivid everyday image—sesame seeds being crushed in an oil-press—to explain how ordinary people, due to attachment, are repeatedly oppressed by ignorance-born sufferings within the ongoing cycle of existence.