Shloka 53
Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation
तथैव द्वादशसमा: कपाली ब्रह्महा भवेत् । ब्रह्मचारी भवेन्नित्यं स्वकर्म ख्यापयन् मुनि:
tathaiva dvādaśa-samāḥ kapālī brahmahā bhavet | brahmacārī bhaven nityaṃ svakarma khyāpayan muniḥ ||
তদ্ৰূপ সি বাৰ বছৰ কপালধাৰী তপস্বীৰ দৰে বাস কৰিব; তাক ব্ৰহ্মহত্যাৰ পাপধাৰী বুলি গণ্য কৰা হ’ব। সি সদায় ব্ৰহ্মচাৰী হৈ থাকিব আৰু মুনি হৈ নিজৰ কৃতকৰ্ম (আৰু প্ৰায়শ্চিত্ত) প্ৰকাশ্যে স্বীকাৰ কৰি জনাব।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Grave wrongdoing requires sustained, disciplined expiation: adopting austere marks of penance (kapālī), maintaining lifelong-like restraint (brahmacarya during the vow), and honestly acknowledging one’s deed rather than concealing it.
In Bhīṣma’s dharma-instruction during the Śānti Parva, he outlines a specific expiatory regimen for the sin of brahmin-slaying: a twelve-year skull-bearing ascetic observance combined with continual celibacy and public avowal of the act and the penance.