Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 3.1.21

tatratha susrava suhrd-vinastim

vanam yatha venuja-vahni-samsrayam

samspardhaya dagdham athanusocan

sarasvatim pratyag iyaya tusnim

SYNONYMS

tatra -- there; atha -- thereafter; susrava -- heard; suhrt -- kinsmen; vinastim -- all dead; vanam -- forest; yatha -- as much as; venuja-vahni -- fire due to the bamboos; samsrayam -- friction with one another; samspardhaya -- by violent passion; dagdham -- burnt; atha -- thus; anusocan -- thinking; sarasvatim -- the River Sarasvati; pratyak -- westward; iyaya -- went; tusnim -- silently.

TRANSLATION

At the place of pilgrimage at Prabhasa, it came to his knowledge that all his relatives had died due to violent passion, just as an entire forest burns due to fire produced by the friction of bamboos. After this he proceeded west, where the River Sarasvati flows.

PURPORT

Both the Kauravas and the Yadavas were relatives of Vidura, and Vidura heard of their extinction due to fratricidal war. The comparison of the friction of forest bamboos to that of passionate human societies is appropriate. The whole world is compared to a forest. At any moment there may be a flare-up of fire in the forest due to friction. No one goes to the forest to set it on fire, but due only to friction between bamboos, fire takes place and burns an entire forest. Similarly, in the greater forest of worldly transaction, the fire of war takes place because of the violent passion of the conditioned souls illusioned by the external energy. Such a worldly fire can be extinguished only by the water of the mercy cloud of saints, just as a forest fire can be extinguished only by rains falling from a cloud.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness