Shloka 23
Jarā-Mṛtyu-anatikrama: Janaka–Pañcaśikha-saṃvāda
Aging and Death Cannot Be Overstepped
कि मया कृतमेतावद् यो5हं कालमिमं जनम् | मत्स्यो जाल ह्ुविज्ञानादनुवर्तितवानिह
kiṁ mayā kṛtam etāvad yo ’haṁ kālam imaṁ janam | matsyo jāla-hv-ajñānād anuvartitavān iha ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “What have I done all this while, that I—throughout this span of time—have kept following this ‘person’, this embodied condition, here? Just as a fish, through ignorance, goes and gets caught in a net, so too have I, until now, kept pursuing and conforming to this natural, bodily life.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights remorse born of discernment: once true understanding arises, one sees how ignorance makes the self cling to bodily, worldly patterns—like a fish entering a net—and turns toward detachment and right knowledge.
Vasiṣṭha voices an inner awakening: he reflects on his past conduct and recognizes that, for a long time, he merely followed the embodied, natural life without insight, just as a fish is trapped by a net through ignorance.