Shloka 23
यत् पापं वर्धते5स्माकं ततः स्मो ब्रद्म॒राक्षसा: | “हमलोग जो पापाचार करते हैं, यह हमारा स्वेच्छाचार नहीं है। आप-जैसे महात्माओंकी हमलोगोंपर कभी कृपा नहीं हुई और हम सदा दुष्कर्म ही करते चले आये। इससे हमारे पापकी निरन्तर वृद्धि होती रहती है और हम ब्रह्माराक्षस हो गये हैं || २० ई ।। योषितां चैव पापेन योनिदोषकृतेन च,आचार्यमृत्विजं चैव गुरुं वृद्धजनं तथा । प्राणिनो ये5वमन्यन्ते ते भवन्तीह राक्षसा:
Vaiśampāyana uvāca: yat pāpaṁ vardhate ’smākaṁ tataḥ smo brahmarākṣasāḥ | yoṣitāṁ caiva pāpena yonidoṣakṛtena ca, ācāryam ṛtvijaṁ caiva guruṁ vṛddhajanaṁ tathā | prāṇino ye ’vamanyante te bhavantīha rākṣasāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Because sin keeps increasing within us, we have become brahmarākṣasas. Those beings who, through sins connected with women and through faults of the womb, and who also hold in contempt the teacher, the officiating priest, the spiritual preceptor, and venerable elders—such people become rākṣasas here.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames moral causality: persistent wrongdoing—especially contempt toward sacred and social authorities (teacher, priest, guru, elders) and sexual/reproductive transgressions—leads to a degraded, ‘rākṣasa-like’ state. It emphasizes that violating dharma is not merely a private act but corrodes one’s very condition and identity.
Vaiśampāyana narrates a statement explaining why certain beings have become brahmarākṣasas/rākṣasas: their accumulated sins keep increasing, and specific anti-dharmic acts—disrespecting revered figures and committing grave sexual/reproductive faults—are cited as causes for such a fallen state.