Shloka 68
अतिथिर् यस्य भग्नाशो गृहाद् यात्य् अन्यतोमुखः स दत्त्वा दुष्कृतं तस्मै पुण्यम् आदाय गच्छति
atithir yasya bhagnāśo gṛhād yāty anyatomukhaḥ sa dattvā duṣkṛtaṃ tasmai puṇyam ādāya gacchati
If a guest, his hope disappointed, turns away and departs from a man’s house, that guest leaves his demerit with the householder and goes off carrying the householder’s merit.
Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Consequences of neglecting atithi-satkara within gṛhastha-dharma.
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: warning, didactic
Concept: To disappoint a guest is to incur his demerit while forfeiting one’s own merit, reversing the moral economy of dāna and hospitality.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Treat unexpected visitors with basic dignity (water, food, kind speech); set aside a small daily portion for giving to prevent neglect.
Vishishtadvaita: Ethical causality (puṇya/pāpa) is framed as participation in the Lord’s moral order; seva safeguards spiritual capital.
Bhakti Type: Dasya
FAQs
This verse presents hospitality as a karmically decisive duty: neglecting a guest reverses one’s spiritual profit, as the householder’s merit is lost while the guest’s demerit is incurred.
Parāśara uses a vivid doctrine of exchange: a disappointed guest symbolically deposits duṣkṛta (demerit) with the host and departs taking the host’s puṇya (merit), stressing immediate moral accountability.
Though Vishnu is not named in the verse, the teaching assumes a Vishnu-governed moral cosmos where dharma is upheld as universal order, and actions within household life directly shape one’s spiritual standing.