Mahabharata — Vana Parva, Shloka 84
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
स तया पावितो देव्या ब्राह्मणो नष्टकिल्बिष: । न सीदेत् प्रतिगृह्लानो महीमपि ससागराम्
sa tayā pāvito devyā brāhmaṇo naṣṭa-kilbiṣaḥ | na sīdet pratigṛhṇāno mahīm api sa-sāgarām ||
उस दिव्य देवी (गायत्री) से पवित्र किया हुआ ब्राह्मण पापरहित हो जाता है। वह समुद्र-पर्यन्त सारी पृथ्वी का भी दान स्वीकार कर ले, तो भी दुःख या संकट में नहीं पड़ता—क्योंकि शुचिव्रत से रहने वाले के लिए देवी गायत्री की पावन शक्ति अत्यन्त महान है।
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Regular sanctifying discipline centered on the Devī (understood here as Gāyatrī) destroys moral taint; such inner purity protects a brāhmaṇa from spiritual and ethical downfall even amid potentially compromising acts like accepting vast gifts.
Yudhiṣṭhira states a dharma-principle: a brāhmaṇa purified by the Goddess becomes sinless, and even if he accepts an immense donation—symbolized by the whole earth bounded by the ocean—he does not come to grief, emphasizing the protective power of sacred practice.
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