Shloka 15
Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)
न कश्रिज्जात्वतिक्रामेज्जरामृत्यू हि मानव: । अपि सागरपर्यन्तां विजित्येमां वसुन्धराम्,कोई भी मनुष्य कभी बुढ़ापे और मौतको लाँघ नहीं सकता। भले ही वह समुद्रपर्यन्त इस सारी पृथ्वीपर विजय पा चुका हो
na kaścid jātvatikrāmej jarāmṛtyū hi mānavaḥ | api sāgaraparyantāṃ vijityemāṃ vasundharām |
न कश्चिज्जात्वतिक्रामेज्जरामृत्यू हि मानवः । अपि सागरपर्यन्तां विजित्येमां वसुन्धराम् ॥
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly power and achievement—even universal conquest—cannot defeat the fundamental human conditions of aging and death; therefore one should cultivate detachment and seek what is beyond transient success.
King Janaka is speaking in a didactic context in the Śānti Parva, offering a reflective instruction: he contrasts the height of royal ambition (conquering the earth to the ocean) with the inescapable limits of human life (old age and death).