Shloka 20
Kīṭopākhyāna: Prajā-pālana as Kṣatra-vrata and the Attainment of Brāhmaṇya
गर्भमें आये हुए प्राणी मल-मूत्र और पसीनोंके बीचमें रहकर खारे, खट्टे और कड़वे आदि रसोंसे, जिनका स्पर्श अत्यन्त कठोर और दुःखदायी होता है, पकते रहते हैं, जिससे उन्हें बड़ा भारी कष्ट होता है ।।
Bhīṣma uvāca: garbhe āgatāḥ prāṇinaḥ mala-mūtra-sveda-madhye tiṣṭhantaḥ kṣāra-amla-tikta-ādi-rasaiḥ, yeṣāṃ sparśaḥ atyanta-kaṭhoraḥ duḥkhadāyī ca, pacyante; tena teṣāṃ mahān kleśaḥ bhavati. Jātāś ca api avaśāḥ tatra chidyamānāḥ punaḥ punaḥ, pacyamānāś ca dṛśyante vivaśā māṃsa-gṛddhinaḥ, māṃsa-lolupāḥ jīvāḥ.
ビーシュマは言った。「胎内に入った衆生は、糞尿と汗の不浄のただ中にあり、塩味・酸味・苦味など、触れればきわめて苛烈で痛みをもたらす諸味の接触によって、まるで『煮られる』ように苦しみ続ける。ゆえに大いなる苦を受ける。さらに生まれてからもなお無力である。幾度も武器に断たれ、諸々の患いにより『煮えたぎる』ように責められる。その肉を貪る生きものの無力さは、目の前に明らかである。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Embodied life is marked by unavoidable suffering from conception onward, and craving—especially the appetite that sustains violence—keeps beings helplessly bound to repeated harm. The ethical implication is to cultivate restraint, compassion, and detachment rather than living by injury and desire.
Bhishma is instructing (in Anushasana Parva) by vividly describing the pain of fetal existence and the continued vulnerability after birth, where beings are repeatedly harmed—symbolized by being cut by weapons and ‘cooked’ by afflictions—highlighting the observable bondage of creatures driven by craving.