Shloka 20
कलौ धर्मसुलभता — व्यासोपाख्यानम् एवं संकीर्तन-प्रधानता
वृथा कथा वृथा भोज्यं वृथेज्या च द्विजन्मनाम् पतनाय तथा भाव्यं तैस् तु संयमिभिः सदा
vṛthā kathā vṛthā bhojyaṃ vṛthejyā ca dvijanmanām patanāya tathā bhāvyaṃ tais tu saṃyamibhiḥ sadā
For the twice-born, when severed from self-restraint, talk becomes futile, food becomes futile, and even sacrifice becomes futile; the disciplined should ever understand that such ungoverned living leads only to downfall.
Sage Parāśara (in instruction to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: How lack of self-restraint renders speech, food, and ritual fruitless and leads to downfall
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: warning, authoritative
Concept: Without saṃyama (self-restraint), even valued acts—speech, eating, and sacrifice—become empty and tend toward spiritual decline.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Practice measured speech, mindful diet, and regulated senses so that religious acts retain inner truth rather than becoming mere performance.
Vishishtadvaita: Outer rites are validated by inner discipline, aligning the embodied self (a real mode of Brahman) to divine order rather than ego-driven action.
Bhakti Type: Shanta
FAQs
It declares that without saṃyama (discipline), even respected acts—speech, eating, and sacrifice—lose their spiritual efficacy and become causes of decline.
By stating that when conduct is unrestrained, yajña and other outward observances turn ‘vṛthā’ (fruitless), because inner governance is the foundation that makes them dharmic.
Implicitly, Vishnu is the supreme sustainer of dharma; the verse warns that abandoning discipline severs one from the order Vishnu preserves, leading to spiritual and social downfall.