Shloka 20
Adhyāya 118: Saciva-parīkṣā
Testing and Appointment of Ministers/Servants
थ्वा त्वं द्वीपित्वमापन्नो द्वीपीव्याप्रत्वमागत:
tvaṃ tvam dvīpitvam āpanno dvīpīvyāpratvam āgataḥ
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “Napasaanyo ang kalagayan ng leopardo, at mula roon ay nagpatuloy ka pa—kaya’t dumaan ka sa sunod-sunod na kapanganakang hayop. Una kang aso, saka leopardo, saka pumasok sa sinapupunan ng tigre; mula sa tigre naging elepanteng lasing sa pagmamataas; mula sa elepante napunta sa sinapupunan ng leon; at bilang isang makapangyarihang leon, muli mong natamo ang katawan ng Śarabha.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates saṃsāra governed by karma: moving into stronger or more dominant bodies is still bondage to birth, and ethical purification—not mere power or predatory success—is what leads beyond repeated embodiment.
Bhīṣma addresses a being (or interlocutor) by recounting its sequence of animal incarnations—dog to leopard to tiger to elephant to lion to śarabha—using the progression as a didactic example about the continuity of rebirth and the consequences of one’s tendencies and actions.