Shloka 4
Strī-dharma: Śiva’s Inquiry, Umā’s Consultation, and Gaṅgā’s Instruction
तस्मात् परस्य वै दारांस्त्यजेद् वन्ध्यां च योषितम् । ब्रह्मस्वं हि न हर्तव्यमात्मनो हितमिच्छता
tasmāt parasya vai dārāṁs tyajed vandhyāṁ ca yoṣitam | brahmasvaṁ hi na hartavyam ātmano hitam icchatā ||
Therefore, one who seeks his own welfare should renounce another man’s wife and also give up association with a barren woman; and he should never seize the property of a Brāhmaṇa, for taking what belongs to a Brāhmaṇa is forbidden to one who desires his true good.
लोगश उवाच
Educational Q&A
Personal welfare (hita) is achieved by adhering to dharma: avoid illicit relations with another man’s wife, avoid improper/inauspicious marital association as stated here (vandhyā), and never appropriate a Brāhmaṇa’s property (brahmasva), which is treated as especially protected.
Within Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction-oriented discourse, the speaker delivers a prescriptive rule of conduct, linking moral restraint and respect for protected property to one’s own long-term good.