Shloka 18
Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)
अप्रियैः सह संयोगो विप्रयोगश्न सुप्रियै: । अर्थानर्थो सुखं दुःखं विधानमनुवर्तते,अप्रिय वस्तुओंके साथ संयोग, अत्यन्त प्रिय वस्तुओंका वियोग, अर्थ, अनर्थ, सुख और दुःख--इन सबकी प्राप्ति प्रारब्धके विधानके अनुसार होती है
apriyaiḥ saha saṁyogo viprayogaś ca supriyaiḥ | arthānartho sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ vidhānam anuvartate ||
Janaka says: “Union with what is disagreeable and separation from what is most dear—likewise gain and loss, pleasure and pain—these all come to beings in accordance with the ordinance of what has been set in motion (prārabdha).”
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Life inevitably brings unwanted associations and painful separations, as well as gain/loss and pleasure/pain; these arise according to the dispensation of prārabdha. Therefore one should cultivate steadiness and not abandon dharma due to changing circumstances.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and right conduct, King Janaka speaks as a teacher-figure, articulating a reflective, renunciant ethic: worldly opposites occur by an ordering beyond immediate control, so the wise respond with composure and moral clarity.