Shloka 33
Prāyaścitta and Contextual Non-Culpability (प्रायश्चित्त-निमित्त-अदोषवाद)
विद्यादेवंविधेनैषां गुरुलाघवनिश्चयम्
vidyād evaṃvidhenaiṣāṃ guru-lāghava-niścayam | paśu-pakṣiṇāṃ vadhaṃ kṛtvā bahūn anyān vṛkṣān ucchedya ca pāpa-yuktaḥ puruṣaḥ śuddhy-artham trīn ahāni trīṇi rātrīḥ kevalaṃ vāyuṃ pītvā tiṣṭhet, svaṃ pāpa-karma ca lokeṣu prakāśayet ||
Vyāsa sprach: „Auf diese Weise soll man das Gewicht und die Leichtigkeit solcher Sünden bestimmen. Wer durch Unrecht befleckt ist—durch das Töten von Tieren und Vögeln und durch das Fällen vieler anderer Bäume—soll zur Reinigung drei Tage und drei Nächte leben, indem er nur Luft ‘trinkt’, und er soll seine sündige Tat vor den Menschen offen bekennen.“
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches proportional ethical judgment (assessing the gravity of sins) and prescribes atonement that combines austerity (a three-day fast described as ‘drinking only air’) with moral accountability through public disclosure of wrongdoing.
Vyāsa is explaining a rule of expiation: if a person has incurred sin by killing animals/birds and by cutting down many trees, he should undertake a severe three-day-and-night austerity and confess the act openly to others as part of purification.