Shloka 34

Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation

Devanagari script

सुरापान ब्रह्म॒हत्या गुरुतल्पमथापि वा । अनिर्देश्यानि मन्यन्ते प्राणान्‍्तमिति धारणा,मदिरापान, ब्रह्महत्या तथा गुरुपत्नीगमन--इन महापापोंसे छूटनेके लिये कोई प्रायक्षित्त नहीं बताया गया है। किसी भी उपायसे अपने प्राणोंका अन्त कर देना ही उन पापोंका प्रायश्षित्त होगा, ऐसी विद्वानोंकी धारणा है

Transliteration

surāpāna-brahmahatyā guru-talpam athāpi vā | anirdeśyāni manyante prāṇāntam iti dhāraṇā ||

Translation

قال بهيشما: «شرب المسكرات، وقتل البراهمي، وانتهاك فراش المعلّم (أي الفاحشة مع زوجة الغورو)—تُعدّ ذنوبًا لا تُوصف لها كفّارة مألوفة (prāyaścitta). ويرى العلماء أن كفّارتها إنما هي إنهاء المرء لحياته وحده.»

Word by Word

• {'surāpāna': 'drinking surā

• consumption of intoxicating liquor', 'brahmahatyā': 'killing of a brāhmaṇa

• brahmin-slaying (a major sin)', 'guru-talpam': 'the guru’s bed

• euphemism for adultery with the teacher’s wife', 'athāpi vā': 'or even

• and also', 'anirdeśyāni': 'not to be specified/prescribed

• beyond (ordinary) prescription', 'manyante': 'they consider

• they hold (opinion)', 'prāṇāntam': 'the end of life

• death', 'iti': 'thus

• in this manner', 'dhāraṇā': 'view, conviction, doctrinal position'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• guru (teacher)
• guru-patnī (teacher’s wife)
• brāhmaṇa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma classifies certain acts—liquor-drinking, brāhmaṇa-slaying, and violating the guru’s bed—as mahāpātakas so grave that ordinary ritual expiations are considered inadequate; some authorities therefore regard death (self-ending) as the only expiation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s dharma-instruction, Bhīṣma is advising Yudhiṣṭhira on moral law and penance, explaining how traditional authorities evaluate the heaviest transgressions and what they deem to be their (non-)expiability.