Mahabharata 3.201.5 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 201, Shloka 5
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
परपाकेषु ये5श्रन्ति आत्मार्थ च पचेत् तु यः । पर्यश्नन्ति वृथा ये च तदसत्यं प्रकीर्त्यते
parapākeṣu ye śrānti ātmārthaṃ ca pacet tu yaḥ | paryaśnanti vṛthā ye ca tad asatyaṃ prakīrtyate ||
Mārkaṇḍeya sprach: „Diejenigen, die in der Küche eines anderen schuften, und der, der nur um seinetwillen kocht; und jene, die ohne rechten Zweck oder Anspruch essen — solches Verhalten wird als ‘asat’ (unwahr/unecht) verkündet.“
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Food and livelihood are ethically ‘real’ only when aligned with dharma—especially sharing and honoring obligations such as offerings and hospitality. Cooking or eating in a way that ignores these duties is called asat (inauthentic/ethically void).
In Mārkaṇḍeya’s discourse, he classifies certain ways of living and eating as fruitless. This verse highlights improper dependence on others’ kitchens and selfish, non-sharing consumption as conduct that renders one’s sustenance morally empty.
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