Shloka 11
धर्मनिन्दा–धर्मोपासनाफलम् तथा साध्वाचारलक्षणम्
Fruits of Disparaging vs. Observing Dharma; Marks of Good Conduct
स द्विजो वैश्यतामेति वैश्यो वा शूद्रतामियात् । स्वधर्मात् प्रच्युतो विप्रस्तत: शूद्रत्वमाप्तुते,जो विप्र दुर्लभ ब्राह्मणत्वको पाकर लोभ और मोहके वशीभूत हो अपनी मन्दबुद्धिताके कारण वैश्यका कर्म करता है, वह वैश्ययोनिमें जन्म लेता है। अथवा यदि वैश्य शूद्रके कर्मको अपनाता है, तो वह भी शाूद्रत्वको प्राप्त होता है। शूद्रोचित कर्म करके अपने धर्मसे भ्रष्ट हुआ ब्राह्मण शूद्रत्वको प्राप्त हो जाता है
sa dvijo vaiśyatām eti vaiśyo vā śūdratām iyāt | svadharmāt pracyuto vipras tataḥ śūdratvam āpnute ||
Mahādeva said: A twice-born man who abandons his own ordained duty and takes up the work proper to a vaiśya falls into the state of a vaiśya. Likewise, a vaiśya who adopts the conduct and occupations of a śūdra falls into śūdra-hood. In the same way, a brāhmaṇa who has slipped from his own dharma by performing śūdra-like work comes to attain śūdra status. The ethical point is that one’s inner discipline and social responsibility are meant to align; when greed, delusion, or negligence drives a person to forsake svadharma, it is treated as moral and spiritual decline with consequences extending even to future birth.
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that abandoning one’s svadharma and adopting duties considered improper to one’s station is a form of ethical and spiritual fall, described here as leading to a lower social/spiritual status and even a corresponding rebirth.
Śrīmahēśvara (Mahādeva) is instructing about the consequences of deviating from prescribed duties (varṇa-based svadharma), using the examples of a dvija/brāhmaṇa taking up vaiśya or śūdra-type work and a vaiśya taking up śūdra-type work.