Shloka 7
Adhyāya 262: Śabda-brahman, Para-brahman, and the Ethics of Tyāga
Kapila–Syūmaraśmi Saṃvāda
इदं देयमिदं देयमिति चायं॑ प्रशस्यते । अतः: स्तैन्यं प्रभवाति विकर्माणि च जाजले,जाजले! श्रुतियों और स्मृतियोंमें कहा गया है कि अमुक कर्मके लिये यह दक्षिणा देनी चाहिये, वह दक्षिणा देनी चाहिये, उसके अनुसार वैसी दक्षिणा देनेसे भी यह यज्ञ श्रेष्ठ माना जाता है; अन्यथा शक्ति रहते हुए यदि यज्ञकर्तने लोभ दिखाया तो उसको चोरी करनेका पाप लगता है और उस कर्ममें भी विपरीतता आ जाती है
idaṃ deyam idaṃ deyam iti cāyaṃ praśasyate | ataḥ stainyaṃ prabhavati vikarmāṇi ca jājale jājale ||
Chūlādhāra said: “People praise a sacrifice by saying, ‘This gift should be given, and that gift should be given,’ in accordance with what the sacred traditions prescribe. For when a patron, though able, withholds the proper fee out of greed, it gives rise to the fault of theft; and the rite itself becomes distorted into wrongful performance.”
चुलाधार उवाच
Educational Q&A
A sacrifice is ethically complete only when the prescribed gifts (dakṣiṇā/dāna) are given according to one’s capacity and scriptural guidance; withholding them out of greed, despite having the means, is treated as a form of theft and corrupts the rite into vikarma (wrongful performance).
In the Chūlādhāra–Jājali discourse of Śānti Parva, Chūlādhāra instructs Jājali on dharma by emphasizing that ritual praise is tied to proper giving; neglecting the due offering turns a supposedly meritorious act into a morally blameworthy one.