Shloka 36
Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)
वृद्धावस्था और मृत्युके वशमें पड़े हुए मनुष्यको औषध, मन्त्र, होम और जप भी नहीं बचा पाते हैं ।। यथा काष्ठ च काष्ठ॑ च समेयातां महोदधौ । समेत्य च व्यपेयातां तद्गधद् भूतसमागम:,जैसे महासागरमें एक काठ एक ओरसे और दूसरा दूसरी ओरसे आकर दोनों थोड़ी देरके लिये मिल जाते हैं तथा मिलकर फिर बिछुड़ भी जाते हैं, इसी प्रकार यहाँ प्राणियोंके संयोग-वियोग होते रहते हैं
vṛddhāvasthā-mṛtyu-vaśaṁ patitaṁ manuṣyam auṣadha-mantra-homa-japā api na trātum śaknuvanti. yathā kāṣṭhaṁ ca kāṣṭhaṁ ca sameyātāṁ mahodadhau; sametya ca vyapeyātāṁ, tadvat bhūta-samāgamaḥ.
वृद्धावस्थावशं प्राप्तं मृत्युनोपहतं नरम् । नौषधानि न मन्त्राश्च न होमा न पुनर्जपाः ॥ यथा काष्ठं च काष्ठं च समेयातां महोदधौ । समेत्य च व्यपेयातां तथा भूतसमागमः ॥
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
That mortality is unavoidable: when old age and death take hold, external means—medicine, mantras, rituals, or recitation—cannot ultimately prevent the end. Therefore one should cultivate detachment and live by dharma, not by clinging to transient bonds.
King Janaka delivers a reflective instruction using a simile: like two logs that drift together in the ocean and then separate, beings in the world meet and part according to time and circumstance. The point is to understand the nature of worldly association and respond with wisdom rather than grief-driven attachment.