Shloka 4
Vetasa-Nīti: The Reed and the Flood (वेतस-नीति)
सागर उवाच समूलशाखान् पश्यामि निहतान् कायिनो द्रुमान् युष्माभिरिह पूर्णाभिन्नद्यस्तत्र न वेतसम्
sāgara uvāca | samūlaśākhān paśyāmi nihatān kāyino drumān | yuṣmābhir iha pūrṇābhinnādyas tatra na vetasam ||
サーガラは言った。「河よ。汝らが洪水により満ちあふれ、岸を破って奔流となるとき、根も枝もろとも引き抜かれた巨木が倒れ、汝らに運ばれてここに至るのを我は見る。だが、汝らの運ぶものの中に、vetasa（葦・竹草）の一本すら見当たらぬ。」
सागर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a natural image to suggest an ethical lesson: rigid, massive things are uprooted and destroyed by force, while the flexible vetasa (reed/cane) survives and therefore is not seen among the wreckage. It points toward adaptability, humility, and non-rigidity as protective virtues.
The Ocean (Sāgara), speaking to the rivers, observes that when they flood and break their banks they carry away uprooted great trees, yet no vetasa is among them. This remark sets up a moral comparison between what gets broken by turbulent force and what endures by bending.