Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 18
Dāna-Śreṣṭhatā: On the Superiority of Giving
Maitreya–Vyāsa Exemplum
कीड़ेने कहा--महाप्राज्ञ! जीव सभी योनियोंमें सुखका अनुभव करते हैं। मुझे भी इस योनिमें सुख मिलता है और यही सोचकर जीवित रहना चाहता हूँ ।।
kīṭa uvāca—mahāprājña! jīvāḥ sarvāsu yoniṣu sukham anubhavanti. mamāpi asyāṃ yoniṣu sukhaṃ labhyate, iti matvā jīvituṃ icchāmi. ihāpi viṣayaḥ sarvo yathā-dehaṃ pravartitaḥ; mānuṣāḥ sthāvarajāś caiva pṛthag-bhogā viśeṣataḥ.
L’insecte dit : « Ô très sage, les êtres vivants éprouvent du plaisir dans toute forme de naissance. Moi aussi je trouve du plaisir dans cette condition même, et c’est pourquoi je souhaite continuer à vivre. Même ici, tous les objets de jouissance opèrent selon le corps que l’on a reçu ; les jouissances des hommes et celles des êtres immobiles diffèrent, chacune à sa manière. »
कीट उवाच
Educational Q&A
Pleasure and the sense of well-being are relative to one’s embodiment: each species or condition has its own appropriate ‘objects’ and modes of enjoyment. Hence attachment to life can arise even in lowly forms, because the mind adapts and finds satisfaction within its given limits.
An insect addresses a wise interlocutor and defends its wish to keep living. It argues that all beings, in whatever birth they occupy, experience some form of happiness, and that enjoyments differ according to the body—humans and immobile beings having distinct kinds of experience.