Shloka 72

Adhyāya 208: Aṅgirasī-kanyāḥ

Enumeration of Aṅgiras’ daughters and attribute-names

Devanagari script

कामलोभग्रहाकीर्णा पड्चेन्द्रियजलां नदीम्‌ । नावं धृतिमयीं कृत्वा जन्मदुर्गाणि संतर,यह शरीर एक नदी है। पाँच इन्द्रियाँ इसमें जल हैं। काम और लोभरूपी मगर इसके भीतर भरे पड़े हैं। जन्म और मृत्युके दुर्गम प्रदेशमें यह नदी बह रही है। तुम धैर्यकी नावपर बैठो और इसके दुर्गम स्थानों--जन्म आदि क्लेशोंको पार कर जाओ

Transliteration

kāmalobhagrahākīrṇā pañcendriyajalāṃ nadīm | nāvaṃ dhṛtimayīṃ kṛtvā janmadurgāṇi saṃtara ||

Translation

The hunter said: “This body is like a river whose waters are the five senses, and within it swarm the crocodiles of desire and greed. It flows through the hard-to-cross terrain of repeated birth (and its sufferings). Therefore, fashion a boat out of steadfastness and cross beyond these perilous stretches—those afflictions beginning with birth.”

Word by Word

• {'kāma': 'desire, sensual craving', 'lobha': 'greed, acquisitiveness', 'graha': 'seizer

• here, a crocodile/alligator (metaphor for what drags one down)', 'ākīrṇā': 'filled with, crowded with', 'pañca-indriya': 'the five senses', 'jala': 'water', 'nadī': 'river', 'nāva': 'boat', 'dhṛti': 'steadfastness, fortitude, sustaining resolve', 'mayī': 'made of, consisting of', 'kṛtvā': 'having made, having fashioned', 'janma': 'birth

• repeated birth (saṃsāra) by implication', 'durgāṇi': 'difficult passages, perilous places, hard-to-cross stretches', 'saṃtara': 'cross over! (imperative)'}

Speaker

व्याध उवाच

Characters & Entities

• vyādha (the hunter, speaker)
• śarīra (the body, implied by the metaphor)
• pañcendriya (five senses)
• kāma (desire)
• lobha (greed)
• dhṛti (steadfastness/fortitude)
• nadī (river)
• nāva (boat)
• janma (birth)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that the embodied life is perilous because the senses carry one along while desire and greed ‘seize’ and drown discernment. The practical remedy is dhṛti—steady resolve and self-restraint—by which one can cross the difficult course of saṃsāra and its sufferings.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Vyādha’s instruction (a dharma-teaching dialogue in Vana Parva), he uses a vivid river metaphor to counsel the listener: treat the body and sense-life as a dangerous current, recognize desire and greed as inner predators, and rely on fortitude to pass beyond the hardships tied to birth and continued worldly entanglement.