Shloka 2
Vasiṣṭha on Saṃsāra, Guṇas, and Misattributed Agency
Mahābhārata 12.292
गौरवेण परित्यक्तं नि:स्नेहं परिवर्जयेत् । सोदर्य भ्रातरमपि किमुतान्यं पृथग्जनम्
gauraveṇa parityaktaṁ niḥsnehaṁ parivarjayet | sodaryā bhrātaram api kim utānyaṁ pṛthagjanam ||
Parāśara said: One should avoid a person who has cast you off with contempt and is devoid of affection. If even a full brother born of the same mother is to be renounced in such a case, how much more an unrelated outsider.
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Do not cling to relationships that are marked by contempt and absence of affection; self-respect and ethical discernment may require distancing oneself even from close kin, and certainly from outsiders.
In a didactic passage of the Śānti Parva, the sage Parāśara delivers a moral instruction on how to respond to rejection and lovelessness, using the strong example of a uterine brother to emphasize the principle.