Shloka 23
Gratitude, Discernment, and the Escalation of Power (Śvā–Dvipī–Vyāghra–Nāga–Siṃha–Śarabha Itihāsa)
न मूलफलभोगेषु स्पृहामप्यकरोत् तदा । यथा मृगपतिर्नित्यं प्रकाड्क्षति वनौकस: । तथैव स महाराज व्याप्र: समभवत् तदा
na mūla-phalabhogeṣu spṛhām apy akarot tadā | yathā mṛga-patir nityaṁ prakāṅkṣati vanaukasaḥ | tathaiva sa mahārāja vyāghraḥ samabhavat tadā ||
Bhīṣma disse: “Naquele tempo ele já não sentia sequer o menor desejo de viver de raízes e frutos. Assim como o senhor das feras —o leão— anseia constantemente pela carne dos habitantes da floresta, assim também, ó grande rei, aquele tigre tornou-se então comedor de carne.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how desire and habituation can shift one’s mode of living: abandoning a restrained diet (roots and fruits) and turning toward predatory consumption. Ethically, it cautions that repeated craving can transform character and conduct, even against earlier restraint.
Bhīṣma describes a change in behavior: the subject (likened to a tiger) loses all inclination for a simple, ascetic diet and becomes meat-eating, illustrated through the analogy of a lion’s constant appetite for the flesh of forest animals.