Shloka 32
Ajagara-vrata (The ‘Python’ Discipline): Prahrāda Questions a Wandering Sage
गृहीतो लोभमोहाशभ्यां दूरं च गमनं मम । न चास्ति पथि भोक्तव्यं प्राणसंधारणं मम
gṛhīto lobhamohāśabhyāṃ dūraṃ ca gamanaṃ mama | na cāsti pathi bhoktavyaṃ prāṇasaṃdhāraṇaṃ mama ||
毗湿摩说道：“我被贪欲、迷妄与希冀所攫住，因此行旅把我带得很远。然而在这条路上，我无物可食——无物可用以维系性命。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how greed, delusion, and hope can ‘seize’ a person and drive them far from inner stability; yet such impulses do not provide true nourishment or support for life. Ethically, it warns that craving and भ्रम (moha) propel action but cannot sustain well-being or dharmic clarity.
In the Śānti Parva’s reflective instruction, Bhīṣma speaks in a confessional, introspective tone, describing himself as carried along by powerful inner forces (lobha, moha, āśā). He then states that on this path there is nothing that can be ‘eaten’—a metaphor for the absence of genuine sustenance or fulfillment in such a course.