Śākulopākhyāna

The Śākulopākhyāna is a short parable that Bhīshma tells Yudhishṭhira in Chapter 137 of the Āpaddharma Parva, which is part of the Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata. It is about three fish and the danger that fell on their pond. Bhīshma uses it to teach three kinds of mind in a time of danger, and what it costs to put off a decision.

The setting

Three fish lived as friends in a small, shallow pond that was full of fish. Each was named for his main quality.

  • Dīrghadarśī (the far-sighted one) sees future danger before it comes.
  • Prāptakālajña (the one who knows the right time) does not look ahead, but at the moment of danger he acts with perfect judgment.
  • Dīrghasūtra (the procrastinator, who is slow to decide) thinks on and on and never acts in time.

One day fishermen came from every side, drained the pond through its channels and let the water fall to a dangerous level.

The three answers

Dīrghadarśī, the far-sighted one

Dīrghadarśī saw the water draining away and at once warned his friends: “Danger has come to all who live in the water. Let us leave before the way is cut off. One who removes a danger before it fully arrives does not come to grief.” He did not wait. He slipped through the channel where water still ran and reached a deeper pond. He lived.

Dīrghasūtra, the procrastinator

Dīrghasūtra heard the warning and answered: “Your words are good, but there is no need to hurry. This is my firm belief.” He put it off. When the pond was fully drained and the fishermen gathered all the fish with ropes and nets, Dīrghasūtra was caught with the rest. He was slow to read the danger and slow to act, and he died, bound in the fishermen’s nets.

Prāptakālajña, the one who knows the right time

Prāptakālajña answered Dīrghadarśī’s first warning with fate: “When the time arrives, nothing departs by any means.” He did not act ahead of time. But the fishermen were tossing the caught fish about in a large pool, not watching and sure that every fish was already tied. Prāptakālajña bit the rope and lay still, as if dead, at just the right moment. The fishermen took him for one more tied fish and ignored him. At the exact moment of chance he let go and slipped into the water, and so he escaped.

The teaching

Bhīshma gives the moral plainly.

  1. Dīrghadarśī is the best kind. He sees the coming danger before it fully appears and acts at once, without waiting for proof. This is the highest kind of mind in a crisis.
  2. Prāptakālajña is the second kind. He does not look ahead, but he can see the exact moment of chance and take it, even when he is already in danger.
  3. Dīrghasūtra is the one who is lost. His thinking never ends. He may know the right thing to do, but he never does it in time.

The last lesson is that the far-sighted and the right-timing prosper together, and the procrastinator perishes. The text adds a word about time. The fine parts of time are kshaṇa (a moment), muhūrta, day, night, paksha (fortnight), māsa (month), ṛtu (season), saṃvatsara (year) and deśa (place). An ordinary person who is caught up in desire cannot feel them. Only those who train sharp attention can use the moment for their purpose.

Place in the Āpaddharma Parva

The Śākulopākhyāna stands at Chapter 137. It comes just before the long Mārjāra-Mūshika Saṃvāda, the dialogue of the cat and the mouse, in Chapters 138 to 140. The Āpaddharma Parva deals with how kings and other beings live through extreme danger.

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Āpaddharma Parva, Chapter 137 (Śākulopākhyāna)
  • Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Āpaddharma Parva, Chapters 138 to 140 (Mārjāra-Mūshika Saṃvāda, named for position only)