Shloka 10
Cāturhotra as Inner Sacrifice (Yoga-Yajña) and Nārāyaṇa Recitation
अभक्ष्यभक्षणं चैव मद्यपानं च हन्ति तम् । सचान्न॑ हन्ति तं चान्नं स हत्वा हन्यते पुन:
abhakṣyabhakṣaṇaṃ caiva madyapānaṃ ca hanti tam | sa cānnaṃ hanti taṃ cānnaṃ sa hatvā hanyate punaḥ ||
L’habitude de manger ce qui ne doit pas être mangé, et de boire des enivrants—voilà ce qui ruine l’homme. Et lorsqu’il consomme la nourriture d’une manière fautive, c’est comme s’il ‘tuait’ cette nourriture même ; l’ayant ‘tuée’, il est à son tour détruit—par les conséquences qui naissent de cet acte.
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Indulgence in forbidden food and intoxicants is self-destructive. Wrongful consumption is portrayed as ‘killing’ one’s sustenance, and the doer is then ‘killed’ in return—i.e., harmed by the moral, physical, and karmic consequences of that act.
A Brahmin speaker delivers an ethical warning: when a person adopts corrupt habits like eating prohibited items and drinking liquor, those habits become the cause of his downfall; the verse frames this as a reciprocal destruction between the eater and the food through the chain of consequences.