Shloka 25
Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
अयज्ञीयद्रुमे देशे रुकुसिंहनिषेविते | भविता त्वं मृग: क्रूरो महादुः:खसमन्वित:
ayajñīyadrume deśe rukusiṃhaniṣevite | bhavitā tvaṃ mṛgaḥ krūro mahāduḥkhasamanvitaḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana dit : «Dans une contrée remplie d’arbres impropres aux rites du yajña, fréquentée seulement par les rurus et les lions, tu deviendras une bête sauvage cruelle, accablée d’une grande souffrance.» Cette parole marque la conséquence morale : celui qui viole l’ordre sacré et la juste conduite est rejeté dans une existence déchue et craintive, coupé de la sphère nourricière du yajña et de la communauté.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores karmic retribution framed through dharma: wrongdoing leads to loss of human dignity and exclusion from the yajña-centered moral world, symbolized by being forced into a harsh wilderness among predators and fear.
Vaiśaṃpāyana reports a pronouncement (a curse-like consequence): the addressed person is foretold to become a cruel wild animal and live in a forest-region considered unfit for sacrificial activity, inhabited only by ruru-deer and lions, enduring great suffering.