Shloka 11
Adhyāya 6: Vidura’s Saṃsāra-Upamā
The Allegory of the Well, Time, and Desire
मुखानि ऋतवो मासा: पादा द्वादश कीर्तिता: । ये तु वृक्ष निकृन््तन्ति मूषिका: सततोत्थिता:
mukhāni ṛtavo māsāḥ pādā dvādaśa kīrtitāḥ | ye tu vṛkṣa nikṛntanti mūṣikāḥ satatotthitāḥ ||
Its “faces” are the seasons; its twelve “feet” are spoken of as the months. Yet there are ever-rising mice that keep gnawing and cutting down the tree.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Time is orderly (seasons and months) yet relentlessly consuming (the ever-active ‘mice’). Therefore one should act with awareness and responsibility, not postponing dharmic duties or assuming life is secure.
Vidura speaks in a reflective, admonitory tone, employing a metaphor of a tree whose structure is marked by seasons and months, while unseen, ceaseless forces (mice) continually gnaw it down—an image meant to awaken urgency and ethical clarity amid grief and aftermath.