Shloka 47
नास्तिकाश्रद्दधानेषु पुरुषेषु कदाचन । दम्भद्वेषप्रधानेषु विधिरेष न दृश्यते,जिनमें दम्भ और द्वेषकी प्रधानता है, उन नास्तिक और श्रद्धाहीन पुरुषोंके लिये कभी ऐसे प्रायक्षित्तका विधान नहीं देखा जाता है
nāstikāśraddadhāneṣu puruṣeṣu kadācana | dambhadveṣapradhāneṣu vidhireṣa na dṛśyate ||
Vyāsa said: For men who are atheistic and devoid of faith—especially those in whom hypocrisy and hatred predominate—no such rule is ever seen: there is no prescribed expiation that truly applies to them. Atonement has meaning only where there is sincerity, openness to counsel, and a will to reform; where inner hostility and pretence rule, ritual remedy cannot take hold.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Expiation (prāyaścitta) is not merely a ritual mechanism; it presupposes faith, honesty, and a genuine intention to reform. Where atheism, lack of faith, hypocrisy, and hatred dominate, the tradition does not recognize an effective ordinance of atonement, because the inner condition required for moral repair is absent.
In the Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Vyāsa states a limiting principle about prāyaścitta: certain dispositions—especially disbelief, faithlessness, hypocrisy, and malice—make a person unfit for the intended transformative function of expiatory rules.