Shloka 123
Puṣkara-Śapatha Itihāsa (Agastya–Indra Dispute at the Tīrthas) | पुष्कर-शपथ-आख्यानम्
उदपानप्लवे ग्रामे ब्राह्मणो वृषलीपति: । तस्य सालोक््यतां यातु बिसस्तैन्यं करोति यः
udapānaplave grāme brāhmaṇo vṛṣalīpatiḥ | tasya sālokyatāṃ yātu bisastainyaṃ karoti yaḥ ||
Dijo Gautama: «En una aldea donde todos sacan agua de un mismo pozo, hay un brahmán que cohabita con una mujer śūdra. Que quien robe los tallos del loto (mṛṇāla/bisa) alcance el mismo mundo que ese brahmán. El verso presenta incluso un hurto aparentemente menor como una caída moral que iguala el destino póstumo al de un brahmán que quebranta las normas ético-sociales por una unión sexual impropia.»
गौतम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that even small acts of theft carry serious moral weight, and that unethical conduct—whether stealing or violating prescribed social-ethical restraints—shapes one’s karmic destiny; the thief is said to reach the same posthumous realm as a Brahmin who cohabits with a Śūdra woman.
Gautama is giving a pointed ethical comparison: he describes a Brahmin in a village who lives with a Śūdra woman, then declares that a person who steals lotus-stalks should attain the same ‘world’ as that Brahmin—using equivalence of outcome to warn against moral lapses.