Shloka 26
'जैसे मत्स्य अज्ञानवश अपनेको जलसे भिन्न नहीं समझता, उसी प्रकार मैं भी अपनी अज्ञताके कारण इस प्राकृत शरीरसे अपनेको भिन्न नहीं समझता था ।। ममास्तु धिगबुद्धस्य यो5हं मग्नमिमं पुनः । अनुवर्तितवान् मोहादन्यमन्यं जनाज्जनम्,“मुझ मूढ़को धिक्कार है; जो कि संसारसागरमें डूबे हुए इस शरीरका आश्रय ले मोहवश एक शरीरसे दूसरे शरीरका अनुसरण करता रहा
yathā matsyo'jñānavaśād ātmānaṃ jalād bhinnaṃ na manyate, tathāham api svājñānāt prākṛtāc charīrād ātmānaṃ bhinnaṃ na manyamāna āsam. mamāstu dhig abuddhasya yo'haṃ magnam imaṃ punaḥ, anuvartitavān mohād anyam anyaṃ janāj janam.
Vasiṣṭha berkata: “Seperti ikan, kerana kejahilan, tidak mengenal dirinya berbeza daripada air, demikian juga aku, kerana ketidaktahuanku sendiri, gagal melihat diriku terpisah daripada tubuh material ini. Malulah kebodohanku: kerana berpaut pada tubuh ini seolah-olah tenggelam dalam lautan saṃsāra, aku—kerana delusi—terus mengikuti kehidupan berjasad demi kehidupan berjasad, melintasi kelahiran demi kelahiran.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that bondage arises from avidyā: mistaking the Self for the material body. Recognizing the Self as distinct from prakṛti and the body is presented as the ethical-spiritual pivot that ends the compulsive repetition of birth-to-birth identification.
Vasiṣṭha reflects with self-reproach on his former delusion. Using the fish-and-water analogy, he confesses that he once could not discern the Self from the body and therefore kept ‘following’ successive embodied states—an image for wandering in saṃsāra.