[neeti-68]
जातः कूर्मः स एकः पृथुभुवनभरायार्पितं येन पृष्ठंश्लाघ्यं जन्म ध्रुवस्य भ्रमति नियमितं यत्र तेजस्विचक्रं ।सञ्जातव्यर्थपक्षाः परहितकरणे नोपरीष्टान्न चाधोब्रह्माण्डोदुम्बरान्तर्मशकवदपरे जन्तवो जातनष्टाः ॥६८॥jātaḥ kūrmaḥ sa ekaḥ pṛthubhuvanabharāyārpitaṃ yena pṛṣṭhaṃślāghyaṃ janma dhruvasya bhramati niyamitaṃ yatra tejasvicakraṃ |sañjātavyarthapakṣāḥ parahitakaraṇe noparīṣṭānna cādhobrahmāṇḍodumbarāntarmaśakavadapare jantavo jātanaṣṭāḥ ||68||
Translation
(DO NOT WASTE YOUR PRECIOUS LIFE)
The one and only tortoise was born who offered his back to bear the weight of the wide-spread world. The birth of Dhruva is praiseworthy, for the sphere of stars moves in a fixed course because of him. Other creatures, whose births are useless because they do nothing for the good of others, are like mosquitoes inside the Udumbara fruit of the cosmic egg—born only to perish. ॥ 68 ॥