Shloka 163
Saṃsāra-Gahana Allegory: The Brāhmaṇa in the Forest and Well (संसारगहन-आख्यान)
आसते मधु संवृत्य पूर्वमेव निकेतजा: । वह लताओं तथा वृक्षोंसे घिरे हुए उस कूपमें क्रमश: बढ़ा आ रहा था। वह ब्राह्मण, जिस वृक्षकी शाखापर लटका था, उसकी छोटी-छोटी टहनियोंपर पहलेसे ही मधुके छत्तोंसे पैदा हुई अनेक रूपवाली, घोर एवं भयंकर मधुमक्खियाँ मधुको घेरकर बैठी हुई थीं
āsate madhu saṁvṛtya pūrvam eva niketajāḥ | sa latābhiḥ tathā vṛkṣaiś ca parivṛte tasmin kūpe kramaśo vardhamānaḥ āsa | sa brāhmaṇaḥ yasya vṛkṣaśākhāyāṁ lambamānaḥ āsa, tasya sūkṣmaśākhāsu pūrvam eva madhucchadma-sambhūtā nānā-rūpā ghorā bhayaṅkarāś ca madhumakṣikāḥ madhu parivṛtya niṣaṇṇāḥ āsan ||
आसते मधु संवृत्य पूर्वमेव निकेतजाः। लतावृक्षसमावृते तस्मिन्कूपे स क्रमशोऽधोऽवरोहन् वर्धमानोऽभवत्। यस्य वृक्षस्य शाखायां स ब्राह्मणो लम्बमान आसीत्, तस्य सूक्ष्मशाखासु पूर्वमेव मधुच्छद्भ्यः समुत्पन्ना नानारूपा घोराः भीषणाश्च मधुमक्षिकाः मधु संवृत्योपविष्टाः॥
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses the guarded honey and the enclosing well to show that attractive pleasures are rarely free of danger; attachment to sweetness can keep a person trapped while peril steadily increases. The ethical thrust is toward vigilance, restraint, and detachment.
Vidura continues a parabolic description: a man (called a Brahmin) hangs from a tree-branch above a well surrounded by vines and trees. On the twigs are honeycombs, but fierce bees already surround and guard the honey, making the sought sweetness perilous as his predicament worsens gradually.