Shloka 54
अध्याय २८१ — दानधर्मः, न्यायागतधनम्, ऋणत्रय-परिशोधनं च
Dāna ethics, lawful wealth, and settling obligations
ब्रह्मोवाच अल्पा इति मतिं कृत्वा यो नरो बुद्धिमोहित: । श्लेष्ममूत्रपुरीषाणि युष्मासु प्रतिमोक्ष्यति,ब्रह्माजीने कहा--जो मनुष्य अपनी बुद्धिकी मन्दतासे मोहित होकर जलमें तुच्छ बुद्धि करके तुम्हारे भीतर थूक, खँखार या मल-मूत्र डालेगा, तुम्हें छोड़कर यह ब्रह्महत्या तुरंत उसीपर चली जायगी और उसीके भीतर निवास करेगी। इस प्रकार तुमलोगोंका ब्रह्महत्यासे उद्धार हो जायगा, यह मैं सत्य कहता हूँ
brahmovāca alpā iti matiṁ kṛtvā yo naro buddhimohitaḥ | śleṣma-mūtra-purīṣāṇi yuṣmāsu pratimokṣyati |
Brahmā said: “If some man, his understanding deluded by dullness, forms the contemptuous notion that you are insignificant and then discharges phlegm, urine, or feces into you, the sin of brahmahatyā will at once leave you and fall upon him alone, taking up residence within him. Thus you will be freed from brahmahatyā—this I declare as truth.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches moral causality: deliberate contempt and defilement of what is sacred or purifying rebounds upon the offender. Purity is protected by dharma—pollution intentionally inflicted becomes the polluter’s own burden, here expressed as the sin of brahmahatyā transferring to the perpetrator.
Within Bhīṣma’s discourse, Brahmā is quoted giving a rule to the addressed waters: if a deluded person treats them as insignificant and defiles them with bodily waste, the grave sin (brahmahatyā) will leave the waters and attach itself to that person, thereby freeing the waters from that taint.