Shloka 18
Dāna-Śreṣṭhatā: On the Superiority of Giving
Maitreya–Vyāsa Exemplum
कीड़ेने कहा--महाप्राज्ञ! जीव सभी योनियोंमें सुखका अनुभव करते हैं। मुझे भी इस योनिमें सुख मिलता है और यही सोचकर जीवित रहना चाहता हूँ ।।
kīṭa uvāca—mahāprājña! jīvāḥ sarvāsu yoniṣu sukham anubhavanti. mamāpi asyāṃ yoniṣu sukhaṃ labhyate, iti matvā jīvituṃ icchāmi. ihāpi viṣayaḥ sarvo yathā-dehaṃ pravartitaḥ; mānuṣāḥ sthāvarajāś caiva pṛthag-bhogā viśeṣataḥ.
Sabi ng insekto: “O dakilang marunong, ang mga nilalang ay nakararanas ng ligaya sa bawat anyo ng kapanganakan. Ako man ay nakakakita ng ligaya sa kalagayang ito, kaya sa pag-iisip niyon ay nais kong magpatuloy na mabuhay. Kahit dito, ang lahat ng bagay na pinaglulugdan ay umaayon sa uri ng katawang taglay; ang mga ligaya ng tao at ng mga nilalang na di-gumagalaw ay magkakaiba, bawat isa sa sariling paraan.”
कीट उवाच
Educational Q&A
Pleasure and the sense of well-being are relative to one’s embodiment: each species or condition has its own appropriate ‘objects’ and modes of enjoyment. Hence attachment to life can arise even in lowly forms, because the mind adapts and finds satisfaction within its given limits.
An insect addresses a wise interlocutor and defends its wish to keep living. It argues that all beings, in whatever birth they occupy, experience some form of happiness, and that enjoyments differ according to the body—humans and immobile beings having distinct kinds of experience.