Shloka 34
अध्याय २८१ — दानधर्मः, न्यायागतधनम्, ऋणत्रय-परिशोधनं च
Dāna ethics, lawful wealth, and settling obligations
तमेषा यास्यति क्षिप्रं तत्रैव च निवत्स्यति । ब्रह्मवध्या हव्यवाह व्येतु ते मानसो ज्वर:,ब्रह्माजीने कहा--अग्निदेव! यदि किसी स्थानपर तुम प्रज्वलित हो रहे हो, वहाँ पहुँचकर कोई अधिकारी मानव तमोगुणसे आवृत होनेके कारण बीज, ओषधि या रसोंसे स्वयं ही तुम्हारा पूजन नहीं करेगा तो उसीपर तुरंत यह ब्रह्महत्या चली जायगी और उसीके भीतर निवास करने लगेगी; अतः हव्यवाहन! तुम्हारी मानसिक चिन्ता दूर हो जानी चाहिये
tam eṣā yāsyati kṣipraṃ tatraiva ca nivatsyati | brahmavadhyā havyavāha vyetu te mānaso jvaraḥ ||
Brahma said: “This (sin) will quickly go to that very person and dwell there. O Havyavāha (Fire), let the torment in your mind be dispelled: the burden of brahmahatyā is not to remain with you, but to pass to the one who, being veiled by tamas, fails to offer due reverence when you are kindled in a place.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames moral accountability as following the true locus of negligence: when proper reverence and duty are not performed due to tamas (spiritual inertia/ignorance), the resulting demerit attaches to the negligent person rather than remaining with an instrument like Fire. It reassures Agni that anxiety should cease because guilt is not arbitrary; it adheres to ethical causality.
Bhīṣma recounts a teaching addressed to Agni (Havyavāha): the personified burden of brahmahatyā/brahmavadhyā will swiftly move to and reside in the individual who fails to perform the appropriate honoring/worship when Fire is kindled. The statement is meant to calm Agni’s mental distress.