Shloka 24
Jarā-Mṛtyu-anatikrama: Janaka–Pañcaśikha-saṃvāda
Aging and Death Cannot Be Overstepped
अहमेव हि सम्मोहादन्यमन्यं जनाज्जनम् | मत्स्यो यथोदकज्ञानादनुवर्तितवानहम्
ahameva hi sammohād anyam anyaṃ janāj janam | matsyo yathodakajñānād anuvartitavān aham ||
Wika ni Vasiṣṭha: “Tunay, ako mismo—dahil sa pagkalito—ang patuloy na sumunod sa kapanganakan matapos ang kapanganakan, lumilipat mula sa isang tao tungo sa iba. Gaya ng isdang inaakalang ang tubig lamang ang saligan ng buhay at lumilipat mula sa isang lawa patungo sa iba, gayon din ako: sa pagkahibang, gumala mula sa isang katawan tungo sa susunod.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Delusion (moha) makes the self cling to embodied life as if it were the only support—like a fish that knows only water—thereby perpetuating saṃsāra, the repeated movement from one body/birth to another. The implied remedy is discernment and detachment leading toward self-knowledge and liberation.
Vasiṣṭha speaks introspectively, confessing his own former wandering under delusion. He illustrates the condition of transmigration with a vivid simile: a fish moving from one pond to another, assuming water to be its entire life-ground, just as an ignorant being moves from body to body taking embodied existence as ultimate.