Shloka 14
ब्रह्मघोष-प्रवर्तनम्, अनध्याय-नियमः, वायु-मार्ग-वर्णनम्
Restoring Vedic Recitation, the Anadhyaya Rule, and the Taxonomy of Winds
अन्य एव तथा मत्स्यस्तदन्यदुदक॑ स्मृतम् । न चोदकस्य स्पर्शेन मत्स्यो लिप्यति सर्वश:,जैसे गूलर और उसके कीड़े एक साथ होनेपर भी अलग-अलग समझे जाते हैं, गूलरके संयोगसे कीड़े उससे लिप्त नहीं होते तथा जैसे मत्स्य दूसरी वस्तु है और जल दूसरी। पानीके स्पर्शसे कभी कोई मत्स्य लिप्त नहीं होता है
anya eva tathā matsyas tad anyad udakaṃ smṛtam | na codakasya sparśena matsyo lipyati sarvaśaḥ ||
याज्ञवल्क्य उवाच—अन्य एव तथा मत्स्यस्तदन्यदुदकं स्मृतम् । न चोदकस्य स्पर्शेन मत्स्यो लिप्यति सर्वशः ॥
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.