Shloka 13
गृहस्थस्य सदाचारः: शौच, तर্পण, वैश्वदेव, अतिथिधर्म, भोजन-विधि, संध्योपासन, ऋतु-धर्मः
नाप्सु नैवाम्भसस् तीरे श्मशाने न समाचरेत् उत्सर्गं वै पुरीषस्य मूत्रस्य च विसर्जनम्
nāpsu naivāmbhasas tīre śmaśāne na samācaret utsargaṃ vai purīṣasya mūtrasya ca visarjanam
One should not relieve oneself in water, nor on the bank of a water-source, nor within a cremation-ground; the discharge of feces and urine must be done with restraint in a proper place.
Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Prohibited places for excretion: water sources, banks, and cremation grounds
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Bodily discharge must be regulated to protect ritual purity, public health, and the sanctity of liminal spaces like cremation grounds.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Protect water sources from contamination and observe culturally appropriate boundaries around funerary spaces.
Vishishtadvaita: Respecting purity boundaries affirms an ordered cosmos where the Lord’s immanent rule is honored through right action in material life.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Shanta
FAQs
This verse treats water and its banks as protected spaces; avoiding defilement preserves ritual purity and supports dharma, which the Purana frames as part of the ordered world sustained under the Supreme Lord’s governance.
Parāśara gives concrete behavioral restraints—here, where not to urinate or defecate—showing that dharma is lived through disciplined daily actions, not only through theology or worship.
Even when the verse is practical, its aim is cosmic: purity and restraint safeguard dharmic order, and in Vaishnava Purāṇic thought that order ultimately rests on Vishnu as the supreme sustaining reality.