Shloka 28
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 123 — Bhīṣma–Droṇa–Vidura Upadeśa to Duryodhana
Keśava-vākya aftermath
यो5सत्सेवी वृथाचारो न श्रोता सुह्ृदां सताम् । परान् वृणीते स्वान् द्वेष्टि तं गौसत्यजति भारत
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
yo 'sat-sevī vṛthācāro na śrotā suhṛdāṃ satām |
parān vṛṇīte svān dveṣṭi taṃ gauḥ satyajati bhārata ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O Bhārata, the man who keeps company with the wicked, lives by false conduct, and refuses to heed the counsel of his noble well-wishers—who chooses outsiders over his own and bears hatred toward his kin—him the Earth herself abandons.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bad company and deceitful conduct corrode dharma: a person who rejects the advice of virtuous well-wishers and turns against their own people loses moral and social support—symbolized by the Earth herself ‘abandoning’ them.
In the Udyoga Parva’s counsel-filled setting before the great war, Vaiśampāyana states a general ethical maxim: one who aligns with the wicked, ignores good counsel, and hates their own is destined for ruin, expressed through the image of the Earth casting such a person off.