Shloka 49
Adhyāya 14: Sudēṣṇā Sends Sairandhrī to Kīcaka’s House (सुदेष्णा–सैरन्ध्री–कीचक संवादः)
अशक्यरूपं पुरुषैरध्वानं गन्तुमिच्छसि । यथा निश्चेतनो बाल: कूलस्थ: कूलमुत्तरम् । तर्तुमिच्छति मन्दात्मा तथा त्वं कर्तुमिच्छसि
aśakyarūpaṃ puruṣair adhvānaṃ gantum icchasi | yathā niścetano bālaḥ kūlasthaḥ kūlam uttaram | tartum icchati mandātmā tathā tvaṃ kartum icchasi ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “You wish to travel a path that men cannot traverse. Just as a senseless, foolish child, sitting on one riverbank, longs to swim across to the far shore, so too you desire to undertake a ruinous deed.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Do not attempt an undertaking that is beyond one’s capacity or contrary to sound judgment; reckless desire, like a child’s impulse to cross a dangerous river, leads to self-destruction.
Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, reports a warning addressed to someone intent on an impossible course of action, using the metaphor of a senseless child on a riverbank trying to swim to the opposite shore.