Shloka 33
विद्यादेवंविधेनैषां गुरुलाघवनिश्चयम्,इसी प्रकार इन पापोंके गौरव और लाघवका निश्चय करना चाहिये। पशु-पक्षियोंका वध और दूसरे-दूसरे बहुत-से वृक्षोंका उच्छेद करके पापयुक्त हुआ पुरुष अपनी शुद्धिके लिये तीन दिन, तीन रात केवल हवा पीकर रहे और अपना पापकर्म लोगोंपर प्रकट करता रहे
vidyād evaṃvidhenaiṣāṃ guru-lāghava-niścayam | paśu-pakṣiṇāṃ vadhaṃ kṛtvā bahūn anyān vṛkṣān ucchedya ca pāpa-yuktaḥ puruṣaḥ śuddhy-artham trīn ahāni trīṇi rātrīḥ kevalaṃ vāyuṃ pītvā tiṣṭhet, svaṃ pāpa-karma ca lokeṣu prakāśayet ||
Vyāsa said: “In this manner one should determine the relative gravity and lightness of such sins. A man who has become tainted by wrongdoing—by killing beasts and birds and by cutting down many other trees—should, for the sake of purification, live for three days and three nights drinking only air, and he should openly disclose his sinful act before the people.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches proportional ethical judgment (assessing the gravity of sins) and prescribes atonement that combines austerity (a three-day fast described as ‘drinking only air’) with moral accountability through public disclosure of wrongdoing.
Vyāsa is explaining a rule of expiation: if a person has incurred sin by killing animals/birds and by cutting down many trees, he should undertake a severe three-day-and-night austerity and confess the act openly to others as part of purification.