Shloka 163
Saṃsāra-Gahana Allegory: The Brāhmaṇa in the Forest and Well (संसारगहन-आख्यान)
आसते मधु संवृत्य पूर्वमेव निकेतजा: । वह लताओं तथा वृक्षोंसे घिरे हुए उस कूपमें क्रमश: बढ़ा आ रहा था। वह ब्राह्मण, जिस वृक्षकी शाखापर लटका था, उसकी छोटी-छोटी टहनियोंपर पहलेसे ही मधुके छत्तोंसे पैदा हुई अनेक रूपवाली, घोर एवं भयंकर मधुमक्खियाँ मधुको घेरकर बैठी हुई थीं
āsate madhu saṁvṛtya pūrvam eva niketajāḥ | sa latābhiḥ tathā vṛkṣaiś ca parivṛte tasmin kūpe kramaśo vardhamānaḥ āsa | sa brāhmaṇaḥ yasya vṛkṣaśākhāyāṁ lambamānaḥ āsa, tasya sūkṣmaśākhāsu pūrvam eva madhucchadma-sambhūtā nānā-rūpā ghorā bhayaṅkarāś ca madhumakṣikāḥ madhu parivṛtya niṣaṇṇāḥ āsan ||
Vidura describes a grim scene from a moral parable: honeycombs already cover the branches, and fierce, terrifying bees sit guarding the honey. Below, a well enclosed by creepers and trees lies in wait, and the man—hanging from a tree-branch—finds his situation worsening step by step. The image warns how worldly sweetness (pleasure, gain) is protected by danger and how attachment can keep one suspended between fear above and ruin below.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses the guarded honey and the enclosing well to show that attractive pleasures are rarely free of danger; attachment to sweetness can keep a person trapped while peril steadily increases. The ethical thrust is toward vigilance, restraint, and detachment.
Vidura continues a parabolic description: a man (called a Brahmin) hangs from a tree-branch above a well surrounded by vines and trees. On the twigs are honeycombs, but fierce bees already surround and guard the honey, making the sought sweetness perilous as his predicament worsens gradually.