Shloka 11
Adhyāya 270 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s inquiry on saṃnyāsa; Bhīṣma on calculable time, tamas, and karma
Vṛtra–Uśanā exemplum begins
7एप्गाजियशाड्टा ब्रह्मघ्ने च सुरापे च चौरे भग्नव्रते तथा । निष्कृतिर्विहिता सद्धिः कृतघ्ने नास्ति निष्कृति:
brahmaghne ca surāpe ca caure bhagnavrate tathā | niṣkṛtir vihitā sadbhiḥ kṛtaghne nāsti niṣkṛtiḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “For the slayer of a Brāhmaṇa, for the drinker of intoxicants, for a thief, and likewise for one who has broken a vowed observance, the good have prescribed expiations. But for the ungrateful person, there is no expiation.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse ranks ingratitude (kṛtaghnatā) as a moral failure so grave that, unlike other major sins for which tradition prescribes prāyaścitta (expiation), it is treated as beyond ritual or formal atonement—implying that ethical character and loyalty to benefactors are foundational to dharma.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and moral conduct. Here he contrasts expiable transgressions (killing a Brāhmaṇa, drinking liquor, theft, breaking vows) with the unexpiable fault of ingratitude, emphasizing its social and ethical destructiveness.