Shloka 102
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
न हि पापानि कर्माणि शुद्धयबन्त्यनशनादिभि: । सीदत्यनशनादेव मांसशोणितलेपन:
na hi pāpāni karmāṇi śuddhyanty anaśanādibhiḥ | sīdaty anaśanād eva māṃsaśoṇitalepanaḥ ||
যুধিষ্ঠিৰে ক’লে—পাপকর্ম কেৱল উপবাস আদি দ্বাৰা শুদ্ধ নহয়। যি মাংস আৰু ৰক্তে লিপ্ত, সি উপবাসে কেৱল ক্ষয়প্ৰাপ্ত হয়।
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
External austerities like fasting do not by themselves erase the moral weight of wrongdoing; true purification requires appropriate atonement and ethical transformation, not mere self-starvation.
Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the limits of ascetic practices as a means of expiating grave faults, warning that fasting alone only weakens a person still stained by violent or sinful deeds.