Shloka 38

ब्राह्मणानुयात्रा—शौनकोपदेशः

Brāhmaṇas Follow into Exile and Śaunaka’s Instruction

Devanagari script

यथैध: स्वसमुत्थेन वह्लिना नाशमृच्छति । तथाकृतात्मा लोभेन सहजेन विनश्यति,'जैसे काष्ठ अपनेसे ही उत्पन्न हुई आगसे जलकर भस्म हो जाता है, उसी प्रकार जिसका मन वशमें नहीं है, वह मनुष्य अपने शरीरके साथ उत्पन्न हुए लोभके द्वारा स्वयं नष्ट हो जाता है

Transliteration

yathaidhāḥ svasamutthena vahninā nāśam ṛcchati | tathākṛtātmā lobhena sahajena vinaśyati ||

Translation

ಮರವು ತನ್ನೊಳಗಿಂದಲೇ ಉದ್ಭವಿಸಿದ ಅಗ್ನಿಯಿಂದ ಸುಟ್ಟು ನಾಶವಾಗುವಂತೆ, ಆತ್ಮನಿಗ್ರಹವಿಲ್ಲದವನು ದೇಹದೊಡನೆ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದ ಸಹಜ ಲೋಭದಿಂದ ತಾನೇ ನಾಶವಾಗುತ್ತಾನೆ.

Word by Word

यथाjust as

इधःfuel, firewood

स्वone's own

समुत्थेनarisen/produced (from)

वह्निनाby fire

नाशम्destruction

ऋच्छतिreaches, comes to

तथाso, likewise

अकृतात्माone whose self is not disciplined

लोभेनby greed

सहजेनinborn, innate

विनश्यतिperishes, is ruined

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

fire (vahni)

firewood/kindling (edhāḥ)

greed (lobha)

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Unchecked, inborn greed functions like a self-generated fire: it consumes the very person who harbors it. The verse urges self-mastery (ātma-niyama) as a safeguard against self-destruction.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana delivers a moral reflection using a vivid simile—wood destroyed by its own fire—to explain how an undisciplined person is ruined by natural greed, reinforcing the ethical lesson within the ongoing discourse of the Vana Parva.