Shloka 13
Adhyāya 6: Vidura’s Saṃsāra-Upamā
The Allegory of the Well, Time, and Desire
यास्तु ता बहुशो धारा: स्रवन्ति मधुनिस्रवम् । तांस्तु कामरसान् विद्याद् यत्र मज्जन्ति मानवा:,और जो-जो वहाँ मधुमक्खियाँ कही गयी हैं, वे सब कामनाएँ हैं। जो बहुत-सी धाराएँ मधुके झरने झरती रहती हैं, उन्हें कामरस जानना चाहिये, जहाँ सभी मानव डूब जाते हैं
yāstu tā bahuśo dhārāḥ sravanti madhunisravam | tāṁstu kāmarasān vidyād yatra majjanti mānavāḥ ||
Vidura explains that the many streams that keep flowing with the drip of honey should be understood as the sweet “juices” of desire—those alluring currents in which human beings repeatedly sink and lose themselves.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that pleasures of desire are like sweet honey-streams: attractive and constantly flowing, yet they cause people to become ‘submerged’—overpowered by craving, losing discernment and ethical steadiness.
In Strī Parva’s reflective aftermath of the war, Vidura speaks in a didactic mode, using a metaphor of honey-like flows to interpret human vulnerability to kāma (desire) and its power to overwhelm people.