Shloka 14
अन्य एव तथा मत्स्यस्तदन्यदुदक॑ स्मृतम् । न चोदकस्य स्पर्शेन मत्स्यो लिप्यति सर्वश:
anya eva tathā matsyas tad anyad udakaṃ smṛtam | na codakasya sparśena matsyo lipyati sarvaśaḥ ||
Яджнявалкья сказал: «Рыба — одно, а вода считается другим. Хотя они и соприкасаются, рыба никоим образом не бывает запятнана прикосновением воды.»
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Contact with the world need not produce inner defilement: just as a fish remains distinct from water and is not ‘stained’ by it, a disciplined person can live amid sense-objects and social duties while remaining unattached and untainted.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and liberation-oriented conduct, Yājñavalkya uses a simple natural analogy (fish and water) to clarify the distinction between the self and its surrounding conditions, emphasizing separateness and non-adhesion despite proximity.