Shloka 38
ब्राह्मणानुयात्रा—शौनकोपदेशः
Brāhmaṇas Follow into Exile and Śaunaka’s Instruction
यथैध: स्वसमुत्थेन वह्लिना नाशमृच्छति । तथाकृतात्मा लोभेन सहजेन विनश्यति,'जैसे काष्ठ अपनेसे ही उत्पन्न हुई आगसे जलकर भस्म हो जाता है, उसी प्रकार जिसका मन वशमें नहीं है, वह मनुष्य अपने शरीरके साथ उत्पन्न हुए लोभके द्वारा स्वयं नष्ट हो जाता है
yathaidhāḥ svasamutthena vahninā nāśam ṛcchati | tathākṛtātmā lobhena sahajena vinaśyati ||
正如由木自身生起之火，终将那木焚尽而灭；同样，未能自制之人，必为与身俱生的贪欲所毁，自取败亡。
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Unchecked, inborn greed functions like a self-generated fire: it consumes the very person who harbors it. The verse urges self-mastery (ātma-niyama) as a safeguard against self-destruction.
Vaiśampāyana delivers a moral reflection using a vivid simile—wood destroyed by its own fire—to explain how an undisciplined person is ruined by natural greed, reinforcing the ethical lesson within the ongoing discourse of the Vana Parva.