Shloka 7
Book 3 (Āraṇyaka-parva), Adhyāya 13 — Alliance Gathering; Arjuna’s Praise of Keśava; Draupadī’s Duḥkha-nivedana; Assurances and Vows
स्त्रियो$क्षा मृगया पानमेतत् कामसमुत्थितम् । दुःखं चतुष्टयं प्रोक्त यैर्नरो भ्रश्यते श्रिय:,स्त्रियोंके प्रति आसक्ति, जूआ खेलना, शिकार खेलनेका शौक और मद्यपान--ये चार प्रकारके भोग कामनाजनित दुःख बताये गये हैं, जिनके कारण मनुष्य अपने धन-ऐश्वर्यसे भ्रष्ट हो जाता है। शास्त्रोंके निपुण विद्वान् सभी परिस्थितियोंमें इन चारोंको निन्दनीय मानते हैं; परंतु द्यूतक्रीडाको तो जूएके दोष जाननेवाले लोग विशेषरूपसे निन्दनीय समझते हैं
striyo 'kṣā mṛgayā pānam etat kāmasamutthitam | duḥkhaṃ catuṣṭayaṃ proktaṃ yair naro bhraśyate śriyaḥ ||
Vāyu said: “Women (i.e., obsessive attachment to women), gambling with dice, hunting, and drinking—these arise from desire. They are declared to be a fourfold source of misery, by which a man falls away from prosperity and good fortune.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Uncontrolled desire (kāma) expresses itself through certain addictive or pleasure-driven pursuits—sexual obsession, gambling, hunting, and intoxication—which lead to suffering and the loss of prosperity; therefore they are to be avoided as ethically blameworthy.
Vāyudeva is speaking as a moral instructor, listing four desire-born habits and warning that they cause a person’s decline from śrī (prosperity and standing), framing the point as an authoritative ethical maxim.