Shloka 10
Saṃsāra-mārga-vistaraḥ
Vidura’s Expanded Account of the Path
शब्दरूपरसस्पर्शर्गन्चैश्ष विविधैरपि । मज्जमांसमहापड्के निरालम्बे समन्ततः
śabdarūparasasparśagandhaiś ca vividhair api | majjamāṃsamahāpaṅke nirālambhe samantataḥ ||
Vidura says: Even amid the many varieties of sound, form, taste, touch, and smell, one finds oneself sunk in a vast mire of marrow and flesh—everywhere without support. The verse evokes the body-bound life of sense-pleasure as unstable and degrading, urging detachment and ethical clarity in the aftermath of violence and grief.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sense-pleasures (sound, form, taste, touch, smell) entice the mind, but attachment to them keeps one trapped in the unstable, bodily condition—likened to a mire of flesh and marrow—so one should cultivate detachment and steadiness in dharma rather than seek support in transient pleasures.
In the Stree Parva’s atmosphere of mourning after the war, Vidura speaks in a reflective, admonitory tone, using stark bodily imagery to highlight the fragility and impurity of embodied life and to redirect attention from sensory fascination toward moral and spiritual grounding.