Shloka 18
Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)
अप्रियैः सह संयोगो विप्रयोगश्न सुप्रियै: । अर्थानर्थो सुखं दुःखं विधानमनुवर्तते
apriyaiḥ saha saṁyogo viprayogaś ca supriyaiḥ | arthānartho sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ vidhānam anuvartate ||
阇那迦王说：“与不悦者相会，与至爱者别离；得与失，乐与苦——这一切皆随已发动之业分（prārabdha，已熟之业）的法令而至于众生。”
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Life inevitably brings unwanted associations and painful separations, as well as gain/loss and pleasure/pain; these arise according to the dispensation of prārabdha. Therefore one should cultivate steadiness and not abandon dharma due to changing circumstances.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and right conduct, King Janaka speaks as a teacher-figure, articulating a reflective, renunciant ethic: worldly opposites occur by an ordering beyond immediate control, so the wise respond with composure and moral clarity.