Shloka 39
स्वयमुत्पादयित्वाग्निं वस्त्रेण परिवेष्टयन् । दहाुमानो मनस्तापं भजते न स पण्डित:,“जो मनुष्य स्वयं आग जलाकर उसे कपड़ेमें लपेट लेता है और जलनेपर मन-ही-मन संतापका अनुभव करता है, वह बुद्धिमान् नहीं कहा जा सकता है
svayam utpādayitvāgniṁ vastreṇa pariveṣṭayan | dahyamāno manastāpaṁ bhajate na sa paṇḍitaḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “A man who himself kindles a fire, wraps it in cloth, and then—when it burns him—suffers inward anguish, cannot be called wise.”
वैशमग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Wisdom includes foresight and restraint: one should not create the very cause of one’s own harm and then lament. Self-inflicted trouble followed by regret is presented as a mark of folly, not learning.
In the opening of Strī Parva, Vaiśaṃpāyana uses a vivid analogy—kindling fire and wrapping it in cloth—to comment on avoidable, self-generated suffering, aligning the listener’s attention toward responsibility for actions and their consequences.