Shloka 33
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 71 — Kṣatra-dharma Counsel, Public Legitimacy, and Mobilization
पापकर्मतया चैव संकरं तेन पुष्यति । संकरो नरकायैव सा काष्ठा पापकर्मणाम्,इस प्रकार पापकर्मोमें प्रवृत्त होनेके कारण वह वर्णसंकर संतानोंका पोषक होता है और वर्णसंकर केवल नरककी ही प्राप्ति कराता है। पापियोंकी यही अन्तिम गति है
pāpakarmatayaiva caiva saṅkaraṃ tena puṣyati | saṅkaro narakāyaiva sā kāṣṭhā pāpakarmaṇām ||
Driven by sinful conduct, a person thereby nourishes social and moral confusion (varṇa-saṅkara). Such confusion leads only to hell; this is the final end-point and bitter culmination of sinful deeds.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sinful conduct does not remain private; it fosters varṇa-saṅkara—social and moral disorder—and that disorder is portrayed as leading inevitably to naraka. The verse stresses the ultimate consequence (kāṣṭhā) of persistent wrongdoing.
Yudhiṣṭhira is articulating an ethical warning within the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war deliberations: when people act adharma, they generate broader societal breakdown, and the text frames this as a grave karmic outcome culminating in hell.