Shloka 2
महाभिष-गङ्गा-दर्शनं वसूनां शापकथनं च
Mahābhiṣa Encounters Gaṅgā; The Vasus Explain Their Curse
ययातिरुवाच ज्ञातिः सुह्त् स््वजनो वा यथेह क्षीणे वित्ते त्यज्यते मानवैर्हि । तथा तत्र क्षीणपुण्य॑ मनुष्य त्यजन्ति सद्यः सेश्वरा देवसड्घा:,ययाति बोले--जैसे इस लोकमें जाति-भाई, सुह्ृद् अथवा स्वजन कोई भी क्यों न हो, धन नष्ट हो जानेपर उसे सब मनुष्य त्याग देते हैं; उसी प्रकार परलोकमें जिसका पुण्य समाप्त हो गया है, उस मनुष्यको देवराज इन्द्रसहित सम्पूर्ण देवता तुरंत त्याग देते हैं
yayātir uvāca—jñātiḥ suhṛt svajano vā yatheha kṣīṇe vitte tyajyate mānavair hi | tathā tatra kṣīṇapuṇyaṁ manuṣyaṁ tyajanti sadyaḥ seśvarā devasāṅghāḥ ||
Yayāti said: “Just as in this world, whether one be a kinsman, a friend, or even one’s own relative, people abandon him when his wealth is exhausted; so too in the other world, when a man’s merit has run out, the hosts of gods—Indra included—cast him off at once.”
अद्टक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly relationships often depend on wealth, and even heavenly status depends on accumulated merit; when the supporting resource (vitta or puṇya) is exhausted, companionship and privilege can vanish quickly—urging detachment and sustained righteous conduct rather than reliance on transient supports.
In the dialogue context, Yayāti reflects on the conditional nature of support: humans abandon the poor, and likewise the gods abandon a person in the other world once his store of merit is spent, implying the inevitability of decline from heaven when puṇya is exhausted.