Shloka 18
Adhyāya 189: Japa—Inquiry into the Jāpaka, Method
Vidhi), and Fruit (Phala
पिशाचा राक्षसा: प्रेता विविधा म्लेच्छजातय: । प्रणष्टज्ञानविज्ञाना: स्वच्छन्दाचारचेष्टिता,वे ज्ञान-विज्ञानसे हीन और स्वेच्छाचारी लोग पिशाच, राक्षस, प्रेत तथा नाना प्रकारकी म्लेच्छ-जातिके होते हैं
piśācā rākṣasāḥ pretā vividhā mlecchajātayaḥ | praṇaṣṭajñānavijñānāḥ svacchandācāraceṣṭitāḥ ||
Bharadvāja said: “Those who have lost true knowledge and discernment, and who act according to mere whim—unrestrained in conduct and behavior—are counted among piśācas, rākṣasas, pretas, and the many kinds of mleccha-born peoples. The verse frames moral and intellectual ruin as a fall into inhuman modes of life, warning that freedom without dharma becomes self-destruction.”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that when people lose knowledge (jñāna) and discernment (vijñāna) and live by mere whim (svacchanda), their conduct becomes adharma; such a life is portrayed as a descent into ‘inhuman’ categories (piśāca/rākṣasa/preta), emphasizing that ethical restraint and right understanding are essential to human dignity.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and right living, Bharadvāja characterizes certain degraded modes of life: those who are intellectually and morally ruined and act without restraint are described using traditional typologies of beings and outsider groups, as a didactic warning about the consequences of abandoning dharmic conduct.