Shloka 5
Adhyāya 6: Vidura’s Saṃsāra-Upamā
The Allegory of the Well, Time, and Desire
इस प्रकार श्रीमह्ाभारत स्त्रीपर्वके अन्तर्गत जलप्रदानिकपर्वमें धृतराष्ट्रके शीकका निवारणविषयक पाँचवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ,विदुरजीने कहा--राजन! मोक्षतत्त्वके विद्वानोंद्वारा बताया गया यह एक दृष्टान्त है, जिसे समझकर वैराग्य धारण करनेसे मनुष्य परलोकमें पुण्यका फल पाता है ।। उच्यते यत् तु कान्तारं महासंसार एव सः । वन दुर्ग हि यच्चैतत् संसारगहनं हि तत् जिसे दुर्गम स्थान बताया गया है, वह महासंसार ही है और जो यह दुर्गम वन कहा गया है, यह संसारका ही गहन स्वरूप है
ucyate yat tu kāntāraṃ mahāsaṃsāra eva saḥ | vanaṃ durgaṃ hi yac caitat saṃsāragahanaṃ hi tat ||
Vidura said: “O King, the wise who know the truth of liberation describe this as an illustrative example. When a person understands it and adopts dispassion, he gains the fruit of merit in the next world. What is called a ‘wilderness’ is in fact this vast cycle of worldly existence itself; and what is termed a ‘hard-to-cross forest’ is nothing other than the dense, bewildering thicket of saṃsāra.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Saṃsāra is likened to a perilous wilderness/forest: it appears as an external terrain but actually signifies inner entanglement and confusion. Recognizing this metaphor supports vairāgya (dispassion), which is presented as conducive to merit and ultimately to liberation-oriented understanding.
In the Strī Parva context, Vidura addresses King Dhṛtarāṣṭra with a moral-philosophical illustration. He reframes the ‘difficult forest’ as the very condition of worldly life, guiding the grieving king toward detachment and clarity after the devastation of the war.