Mahabharata 11.7.10 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 7, Shloka 10
Saṃsāra-mārga-vistaraḥ
Vidura’s Expanded Account of the Path
शब्दरूपरसस्पर्शर्गन्चैश्ष विविधैरपि । मज्जमांसमहापड्के निरालम्बे समन्ततः
śabdarūparasasparśagandhaiś ca vividhair api | majjamāṃsamahāpaṅke nirālambhe samantataḥ ||
แม้ท่ามกลางความหลากหลายแห่งเสียง รูป รส สัมผัส และกลิ่น (มนุษย์) ก็ยังจมอยู่ในปลักตมอันใหญ่แห่งไขกระดูกและเนื้อหนัง—ไร้ที่พึ่งพิงโดยรอบ.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sense-pleasures (sound, form, taste, touch, smell) entice the mind, but attachment to them keeps one trapped in the unstable, bodily condition—likened to a mire of flesh and marrow—so one should cultivate detachment and steadiness in dharma rather than seek support in transient pleasures.
In the Stree Parva’s atmosphere of mourning after the war, Vidura speaks in a reflective, admonitory tone, using stark bodily imagery to highlight the fragility and impurity of embodied life and to redirect attention from sensory fascination toward moral and spiritual grounding.
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