Shloka 53
अनुशासनपर्व अध्याय ९३ — तपस्, सदोपवास, विघसाशन, अतिथिप्रियता
Austerity, regulated fasting, residual-eating, and hospitality
वैखानसानां वचनमृषीणां श्रूयते नूप । दूरादेव परीक्षेत ब्राह्मणान् वेदपारगान्
bhīṣma uvāca | vaikhānasānāṃ vacanam ṛṣīṇāṃ śrūyate nṛpa | dūrād eva parīkṣeta brāhmaṇān vedapāragān | rājann ye saṃbhāṣaṇe brāhmaṇān nindanti tān śrāddhe bhojayituṃ na arhasi | nareśvara vaikhānasarṣīṇām idaṃ vacaḥ śrūyate—brāhmaṇānāṃ nindāyāṃ te nindakasyāpi trīṇi kulāni nāśayanti |
Bhishma said: “O king, the saying of the Vaikhānasa sages is heard: one should assess from afar those Brahmins who have mastered the Vedas. O ruler, those who, in conversation, disparage Brahmins should not be fed at a śrāddha. O lord of men, this is what the forest-dwelling Vaikhānasa seers declare: when Brahmins are reviled, they destroy even three generations of the reviler’s line.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Guard one’s speech and ritual choices: those who habitually revile Brahmins are unfit to be honored at śrāddha, and slander of the worthy is said to bring severe karmic and familial consequences.
In Bhishma’s instruction to the king on dharma, he cites the authority of Vaikhānasa forest sages to advise careful evaluation of Veda-knowing Brahmins and to prohibit feeding Brahmin-revilers in ancestral rites.