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 ||
瓦西什塔说道：“确实是我自己，由于迷妄，追随一生又一生，从此人转到彼人。正如鱼把水当作生命唯一的根基，从一处水塘游到另一处水塘；我也同样，在昏惑中从一个身体漂泊到另一个身体。”
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.