Shloka 163
Saṃsāra-Gahana Allegory: The Brāhmaṇa in the Forest and Well (संसारगहन-आख्यान)
आसते मधु संवृत्य पूर्वमेव निकेतजा: । वह लताओं तथा वृक्षोंसे घिरे हुए उस कूपमें क्रमश: बढ़ा आ रहा था। वह ब्राह्मण, जिस वृक्षकी शाखापर लटका था, उसकी छोटी-छोटी टहनियोंपर पहलेसे ही मधुके छत्तोंसे पैदा हुई अनेक रूपवाली, घोर एवं भयंकर मधुमक्खियाँ मधुको घेरकर बैठी हुई थीं
āsate madhu saṁvṛtya pūrvam eva niketajāḥ | sa latābhiḥ tathā vṛkṣaiś ca parivṛte tasmin kūpe kramaśo vardhamānaḥ āsa | sa brāhmaṇaḥ yasya vṛkṣaśākhāyāṁ lambamānaḥ āsa, tasya sūkṣmaśākhāsu pūrvam eva madhucchadma-sambhūtā nānā-rūpā ghorā bhayaṅkarāś ca madhumakṣikāḥ madhu parivṛtya niṣaṇṇāḥ āsan ||
ヴィドゥラは法の譬喩として、陰惨な光景を語る。枝々にはすでに蜂の巣が覆い、形さまざまな凶暴で恐ろしい蜂が蜜を取り囲んで守っている。下には蔓と樹々に囲まれた井戸が待ち受け、枝にぶら下がる男は、事態が一歩ごとに悪化してゆくのを知る。この像は、世の甘味（快楽・利得）が危険に守られていること、そして執着が人を上の恐れと下の破滅のあいだに宙づりにすることを戒める。
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses the guarded honey and the enclosing well to show that attractive pleasures are rarely free of danger; attachment to sweetness can keep a person trapped while peril steadily increases. The ethical thrust is toward vigilance, restraint, and detachment.
Vidura continues a parabolic description: a man (called a Brahmin) hangs from a tree-branch above a well surrounded by vines and trees. On the twigs are honeycombs, but fierce bees already surround and guard the honey, making the sought sweetness perilous as his predicament worsens gradually.