Adhyaya 29 — Alarka’s Inquiry and Madalasa’s Teaching on Householder Dharma (Gārhasthya), Vaiśvadeva, and Atithi Hospitality
तेषामुच्छेदकर्ता च यो नरोऽत्यन्तपापकृत् ।
स तमस्यान्धतामिस्त्रे तामिस्त्रे च निमज्जति ॥
teṣām ucchedakartā ca yo naro ’tyantapāpakṛt | sa tamasy āndhatāmistre tāmistre ca nimajjati ||
«Mais l’homme qui retranche ce qui leur est dû (leur subsistance et leurs rites)—auteur d’actes d’une extrême faute—s’enfonce dans la “ténèbre”, dans la ténèbre aveugle et dans la ténèbre totale (terribles états infernaux).»
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Withholding what sustains others—whether offerings, hospitality, or due rites—is treated as a grave ethical rupture with severe karmic consequence.
Dharma (ācāra) and karmaphala instruction; a moral-legal passage rather than cosmogenesis or dynastic history.
‘Darkness’ signifies not only punitive realms but the inward contraction of consciousness caused by severing reciprocity—spiritual obscuration mirroring ethical failure.