Shloka 143
पञ्चवर्णोत्पत्तिः — The Origin of the Five-Colored Fiery Being and Ritual-Disruptor Lineages
आधिकभिश्ैव बाध्यन्ते व्याधै: क्षुद्रमूगा इव । इसमें संदेह नहीं कि मनुष्योंके जो रोग होते हैं, वे उनके कर्मोंके ही फल हैं। जैसे बहेलिये छोटे मृगोंको पीड़ा देते हैं, उसी प्रकार वे रोग और आधि-व्याधियाँ जीवोंको पीड़ा देती रहती हैं
ādhikabhiś caiva bādhyante vyādhaiḥ kṣudramṛgā iva |
The hunter said: “Living beings are indeed afflicted by anxieties and diseases, just as small deer are harassed by hunters. There is no doubt that the illnesses that befall human beings arise as the fruits of their own actions; in the same way, these ailments and mental torments continually trouble creatures.”
व्याध उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a karmic ethic: human illnesses and afflictions are presented as consequences (phala) of one’s own actions. It frames suffering—both mental (ādhi) and physical (vyādhi)—as lawful results within moral causality, encouraging responsibility and ethical living.
In the Vana Parva’s dialogue, the hunter (vyādha) instructs his listener with a vivid simile: as hunters trouble small deer, so do anxieties and diseases trouble living beings. The statement supports his broader moral instruction about dharma and the workings of karma.