Shloka 25
Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)
व्याधिरग्निर्जलं शस्त्र बुभुक्षाश्नापदो विषम् ज्वरश्ष मरणं जन्तोरुच्चाच्च पतनं तथा
vyādhir agnir jalaṁ śastraṁ bubhukṣā śvāpado viṣam | jvaraś ca maraṇaṁ jantor uccāc ca patanaṁ tathā ||
Janaka said: “For a living being, danger comes from many quarters—disease, fire, water, weapons, hunger, wild beasts, poison, fever, and death itself; likewise there is the peril of falling from a great height. Seeing that life is continually exposed to such threats, one should not be intoxicated by security or delay what is right; one should live with vigilance, restraint, and readiness for dharma.”
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Life is inherently precarious, threatened by many causes; therefore one should not cling to false security, but cultivate restraint and timely commitment to dharma, remembering impermanence.
King Janaka is speaking in the Shanti Parva, listing the many hazards that can befall a living being to underscore the fragility of embodied life and to support a reflective, ethically alert stance.