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 |
他说：“我想吃你能给的食物，因为饥饿实在折磨着我。”鸟听了便答道：“兄弟，我们并无积蓄财物与储备口粮，不能替你消除饥饿。我们是栖居林野的鸟，只靠每日啄得之物度命；如同苦行的仙人一般，我们不存留食物。”
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.