Valmiki Ramayana 6.13.2: Yuddha Kanda, Sarga 13, Shloka 2
महापार्श्वस्य परामर्शः · Mahāpārśva’s Counsel and Rāvaṇa’s Confession of Brahmā’s Curse
Spoken by RavanaSetting: Generic forest setting used as analogyPlaces named: वनम् (forest)
यःखल्वपिवनंप्राप्यमृगव्यालनिषेवितम् ।
नपिबेन्मधुसम्प्राप्यसनरोबालिशोभवेत् ॥२॥
yaḥ khalv api vanaṃ prāpya mṛgavyāla-niṣevitam |
na pibed madhu samprāpya sa naro bāliśo bhavet ||2||
जो कोई जंगल में जहां जानवर और शिकारी रहते हैं, वहां जाकर शहद मिल जाए और फिर भी वो उसे न पिए। ऐसा आदमी बिल्कुल बेवकूफ होता है।
Sandhi Notes
- यःखल्वपि→यः खलु अपि
- वनंप्राप्य→वनम् प्राप्य
- मृगव्यालनिषेवितम् (समास)
- नपिबेत्→न पिबेत्
- मधुसम्प्राप्य→मधु सम्प्राप्य
- सनरोबालिशोभवेत्→सः नरः बालिशः भवेत्
"Having reached a forest inhabited by wild animals and snakes for honey, whoever does not drink the honey obtained is surely a childish one."
The teaching
When desire dominates, one calls restraint ‘foolish’—a hallmark of adharma-driven reasoning.
Duties in tension
- Sense-restraint vs indulgence
- Prudence/safety vs reckless enjoyment
- Ethical theme
- Nīti / self-control
For your practice
Useful for vairāgya practice: recognize how the mind rationalizes indulgence; cultivate viveka.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Hasya (humour), with Bibhatsa (disgust)
- Mood
- Cynical, didactic, brazen
Themes
- Dharma
- Ethics
- Itihasa
- Desire
- Delusion
The verse exemplifies aviveka: mistaking fleeting ‘madhu’ (sense-pleasure) for true good; the forest of saṃsāra is perilous when one chases rasa without discrimination.
‘Madhu’ recalls the Madhu-vidyā motif (Bṛhadāraṇyaka), inverted here into crude sense-pleasure rather than cosmic interdependence.
Mahābhārata: warnings about kāma as honey with hidden poison (thematic parallels in Nīti/Anuśāsana material); Rāmacaritamānasa: condemnations of kāma as delusion (general thematic parallel)
Nīti-śāstra style aphorisms using forest/animal danger as metaphor for worldly life
Rāvaṇa’s broader pattern of justifying adharma through clever speech (seen in Sundarakāṇḍa dialogues)
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Commanding
Brisk, slightly ironic cadence; emphasis on ‘बालिशो’
FAQs
The verse frames a hedonistic logic—risk is justified if pleasure is gained. In Ramayana’s dharmic lens, this becomes a warning: intelligence is not mere acquisition, but restraint and right choice.
Rāvaṇa speaks in a self-assured, provocative tone, rationalizing indulgence and dismissing caution as foolishness, setting up his hubris before confronting Rāma.
By contrast (implicitly), the virtue is self-control (dama) and discernment (viveka), which dharma values over impulsive enjoyment.
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