Shloka 23
Gratitude, Discernment, and the Escalation of Power (Śvā–Dvipī–Vyāghra–Nāga–Siṃha–Śarabha Itihāsa)
न मूलफलभोगेषु स्पृहामप्यकरोत् तदा । यथा मृगपतिर्नित्यं प्रकाड्क्षति वनौकस: । तथैव स महाराज व्याप्र: समभवत् तदा
na mūla-phalabhogeṣu spṛhām apy akarot tadā | yathā mṛga-patir nityaṁ prakāṅkṣati vanaukasaḥ | tathaiva sa mahārāja vyāghraḥ samabhavat tadā ||
Dijo Bhīṣma: «En aquel tiempo ya no sentía ni el más leve deseo de alimentarse de raíces y frutos. Así como el señor de las bestias —el león— anhela sin cesar la carne de los moradores del bosque, así también, oh gran rey, aquel tigre se volvió entonces comedor de carne».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how desire and habituation can shift one’s mode of living: abandoning a restrained diet (roots and fruits) and turning toward predatory consumption. Ethically, it cautions that repeated craving can transform character and conduct, even against earlier restraint.
Bhīṣma describes a change in behavior: the subject (likened to a tiger) loses all inclination for a simple, ascetic diet and becomes meat-eating, illustrated through the analogy of a lion’s constant appetite for the flesh of forest animals.