Shloka 3
क्षत्रधर्मा वैश्यधर्मा नावृत्ति: पतते द्विज: । शूद्रधर्मा यदा तु स्थात् तदा पतति वै द्विज:
kṣatradharmā vaiśyadharmā nāvṛttiḥ patate dvijaḥ | śūdradharmā yadā tu sthāt tadā patati vai dvijaḥ ||
Parāśara dijo: «Un dos veces nacido no cae de su condición cuando, por falta de sustento, se mantiene con los deberes de un kṣatriya o de un vaiśya. Pero cuando adopta el modo de vida asignado a un śūdra, entonces, en verdad, el dos veces nacido cae al instante.»
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes permissible and impermissible livelihood substitutions for a dvija: adopting Kṣatriya or Vaiśya duties for subsistence is not treated as a fall, but adopting śūdra-dharma (service as one’s defining livelihood) is declared to cause immediate degradation.
In Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Parāśara is instructing on varṇa-based duties and the ethics of livelihood (vṛtti), specifying how a dvija should respond to economic necessity without violating the boundaries of prescribed social conduct.