Adhyaya 50 — The Pitris
अहङ्कारगतश्चान्यस्तथान्यो बुद्धिसंस्थितः ।
विनाशाय नराः स्त्रीणां यतन्ते महोसंश्रिताः ॥
ahaṅkāragataś cānyas tathānyo buddhisaṃsthitaḥ | vināśāya narāḥ strīṇāṃ yatante mahosaṃśritāḥ ||
L’un d’eux est logé dans l’ego (ahaṅkāra), et un autre est établi dans l’intellect (buddhi). Ainsi, s’appuyant sur la grande illusion, l’emprise écrasante (mahā-moha), les hommes s’efforcent vers la destruction des femmes (et de l’ordre social).
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When ego and intellect are captured by adharma, wrongdoing becomes ‘principled’ in one’s own eyes. The verse warns that such corruption can manifest as targeted harm—here framed as men harming women—signaling broader societal unraveling.
Didactic Sarga/Pratisarga: the ‘creation’ of destructive tendencies is mapped onto inner faculties (ahaṅkāra, buddhi), explaining how cosmic adharma becomes human misconduct.
Ahaṅkāra and buddhi are subtle instruments of bondage when misaligned; the teaching implies that purification of intellect (sattvic buddhi) and ego-transcendence are protections against the ‘alakṣmī’ principle.