Shloka 7
Adhyāya 42 — Mahābhūta–Indriya–Adhyātma-Vyavasthā
Brahmā’s Instruction on Elements and Faculties
लोभप्रजनसम्भूता निर्विशेषा हाकिंचना: । मांसशोणितसंघाता अन्योन्यस्योपजीविन:
lobha-prajana-sambhūtā nirviśeṣā hy akiñcanāḥ | māṁsa-śoṇita-saṅghātā anyonyasyopajīvinaḥ ||
「貪りから生まれ、増え広がろうとする衝動に駆られて、彼らは皆ひとしく、真に価値あるものを何ひとつ持たぬ。肉と血の寄せ集めにすぎず、互いを餌食として生きる—相互の搾取によってのみ身を支えるのだ。」
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vāyu condemns a life governed by lobha (greed): when beings are driven by craving and mere self-preservation, they become ethically 'undistinguished' and end up sustaining themselves through harm and exploitation of others. The verse urges discernment and detachment from possessiveness and predatory living.
In Ashvamedhika Parva, Vāyudeva speaks in a didactic context, offering a stark assessment of worldly creatures: they arise from greed and procreative impulse, are reducible to perishable bodily aggregates, and survive through mutual dependence that often takes the form of consuming or injuring one another.