Shloka 123
उदपानप्लवे ग्रामे ब्राह्मणो वृषलीपति: । तस्य सालोक््यतां यातु बिसस्तैन्यं करोति यः,जिसने मृणालोंकी चोरी की हो उसे वही लोक मिले, जो एक ही कूपमें पानी भरनेवाले, गाँवमें निवास करनेवाले और शूद्रकी पत्नीसे संसर्ग रखनेवाले ब्राह्मणको मिलता है
udapānaplave grāme brāhmaṇo vṛṣalīpatiḥ | tasya sālokyatāṃ yātu bisastainyaṃ karoti yaḥ ||
Gautama said: “In a village where people draw water from a common well, there is a Brahmin who cohabits with a Śūdra woman. Let the one who steals lotus-stalks (mṛṇāla/bisa) attain the same world as that Brahmin. Thus even a theft that seems minor is cast as a moral fall, aligning one’s posthumous lot with that of a Brahmin who violates ethical and social restraints through improper sexual conduct.”
गौतम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that even small acts of theft carry serious moral weight, and that unethical conduct—whether stealing or violating prescribed social-ethical restraints—shapes one’s karmic destiny; the thief is said to reach the same posthumous realm as a Brahmin who cohabits with a Śūdra woman.
Gautama is giving a pointed ethical comparison: he describes a Brahmin in a village who lives with a Śūdra woman, then declares that a person who steals lotus-stalks should attain the same ‘world’ as that Brahmin—using equivalence of outcome to warn against moral lapses.