Shloka 180
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
पाणौ कुण्डं तथा कुण्डे पय: पयसि मक्षिका । अश्रिताश्रययोगेन पृथक्त्वेनाश्रिता: पुन:
pāṇau kuṇḍaṃ tathā kuṇḍe payaḥ payasi makṣikā | āśritāśraya-yogena pṛthaktvenāśritāḥ punaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “In the hand there is a small vessel; in the vessel there is milk; and in the milk a fly has fallen. Though these three are distinct from one another, by the relation of support and the supported they come to be together, mutually dependent in a single situation.”
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates the āśraya–āśrita (support–supported) relation: distinct entities can become practically ‘together’ through dependence and containment. Ethically, it points to how association and reliance bind separate things into shared consequences.
Bhīṣma is explaining a principle through a concrete image: a hand holds a vessel, the vessel holds milk, and a fly is in the milk. Though separate by nature, they are linked in one chain of support and dependence.