Shloka 15
Janamejaya’s Appeal for Pacification and Śaunaka’s Counsel on Humility (जनमेजय-शौनक संवादः)
दत्तमाहारमिच्छामि त्वया क्षुद् बाधते हि माम् । स तद्वचः प्रतिश्रुत्य वाक्यमाह विहड्भम:
dattam āhāram icchāmi tvayā kṣud bādhate hi mām | sa tad-vacaḥ pratiśrutya vākyam āha vihaṅgamaḥ, sañcayo nāsti cāsmākaṃ munīnām iva bhojane |
Sinabi niya: “Nais kong kainin ang pagkaing maibibigay mo, sapagkat pinahihirapan ako ng gutom.” Nang marinig ito, sumagot ang ibon: “Kapatid, wala kaming naipong yaman o baon upang maalis ang iyong gutom. Kami’y mga ibong naninirahan sa gubat; nabubuhay lamang kami sa anumang mapulot sa bawat araw. Gaya ng mga muni, wala kaming iniimbak na pagkain.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights aparigraha (not hoarding) and the ethical tension of hospitality: a forest creature lives day-to-day without stored provisions, resembling ascetics, yet must respond compassionately to a hungry guest.
A hungry visitor asks for food. The bird replies that it has no stored supplies—only what it gathers daily—framing its simple livelihood and setting up the moral challenge of how to offer hospitality despite scarcity.