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,अरे! तू उस राहपर जाना चाहता है, जहाँ दूसरे पुरुष नहीं जा सकते। जैसे नदीके एक किनारेपर बैठा हुआ कोई मन्दबुद्धि अचेत बालक दूसरे किनारेपर तैरकर जाना चाहता हो, वैसा ही विनाशकारी कार्य तू भी करना चाहता है
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.