Shloka 29
नरक-निर्णयः, पाप-कर्म-फल-व्यवस्था, प्रायश्चित्त-क्रमः, तथा हरि-स्मरण-परमत्वम्
दिवा स्वप्नेषु स्कन्दन्ते ये नरा ब्रह्मचारिणः पुत्रैर् अध्यापिता ये च ते पतन्ति श्वभोजने
divā svapneṣu skandante ye narā brahmacāriṇaḥ putrair adhyāpitā ye ca te patanti śvabhojane
Those who, though living as brahmacārins, let their seed fall even in dreams by day—and those who accept instruction from their own sons—such persons fall into the degraded state called Śvabhojana.
Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Sexual/disciplinary lapses in brahmacarya and breaches of pedagogical propriety, and their hellish outcome
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Cosmic Hierarchy: Lokas
Concept: Brahmacarya is not merely external status but disciplined inner life, and inversion of proper teacher-student order is adharma leading to degraded post-mortem states.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Cultivate integrity between vows and private conduct; honor healthy learning lineages and boundaries in teaching relationships.
Vishishtadvaita: The body and its disciplines are part of the Lord’s ‘mode’ (prakāra) as ordered life; misuse of embodied life disrupts one’s dharmic alignment within the divine cosmos.
FAQs
This verse treats brahmacarya as a sacred vow whose breach—even through lustful emissions associated with dream-state indulgence—brings karmic downfall into an impure, degraded condition.
He lists reversal of proper authority—being taught by one’s own son—as a mark of dharmic disorder, placing it alongside violations of continence as causes of spiritual and moral degradation.
Even when Vishnu is not named, the teaching presumes a cosmos governed by dharma under the Supreme Lord’s order, where ethical discipline sustains spiritual progress and violations yield inevitable karmic results.