Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 43, Shloka 36
Adhyaya 43 — Portents of Death (Ariṣṭa-lakṣaṇas) and the Yogin’s Response; Alarka Renounces Kingship
देवान्नार्चयते वृद्धान् गुरून् विप्रांश्च निन्दति ।
मातापित्रोर्न सत्कारं जामातॄणां करोति च ॥
devān nārcayate vṛddhān gurūn viprāṃś ca nindati / mātāpitror na satkāraṃ jāmātṝṇāṃ karoti ca
He does not worship the gods; he reviles elders, teachers, and brāhmaṇas; he shows no proper honor to mother and father, and he does not extend due regard to sons-in-law—such conduct is to be understood as a grave sign (of the end).
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FAQs
Social and spiritual order rests on honoring devas (gratitude to cosmic order) and elders/parents (gratitude to lineage and instruction). The verse warns that when gratitude collapses into revilement, life itself is nearing its close—or at least one’s dharmic life is collapsing.
Dharma teaching; outside pancalakṣaṇa.
Reverence is a conduit of puṇya and protection. Its negation (‘nindā’) signifies the severing of protective merit, leaving the person vulnerable to the ripening of adverse karma at the threshold of death.