Shloka 23
Purohita-Niyoga and the Brahma–Kṣatra Concord
Aila–Kaśyapa Saṃvāda
कश्यप उवाच असंत्यागात् पापकृतामपापां- स्तुल्यो दण्ड: स्पृशते मिश्रभावात् | शुष्केणाद दहाते मिश्रभावा- न्न मिश्र: स्थात् पापकृद्धिः कथंचित्
kaśyapa uvāca | asaṃtyāgāt pāpakṛtām apāpāṃs tulyo daṇḍaḥ spṛśate miśrabhāvāt | śuṣkeṇārdraṃ dahate miśrabhāvān na miśraḥ sthāt pāpakṛddhiḥ kathaṃcit ||
Kashyapa berkata: “Bila seseorang tidak meninggalkan pergaulan para pendosa, maka bahkan yang tak berdosa dan saleh pun tersentuh hukuman yang sama, karena pergaulan membuatnya ‘tercampur’ oleh noda itu. Seperti kayu basah yang terbakar karena berada bersama kayu kering, demikian pula hendaknya orang bijak sama sekali tidak menjalin hubungan dengan pelaku dosa.”
कश्यप उवाच
Educational Q&A
Association has ethical consequences: keeping company with wrongdoers can make even a righteous person share in blame and punishment. Therefore, one should deliberately avoid intimate contact and sustained companionship with those devoted to sinful conduct.
In a didactic exchange within the Śānti Parva, the sage Kaśyapa instructs the listener using a vivid analogy—wet wood burning when mixed with dry wood—to explain how moral taint spreads through close association, urging deliberate separation from pāpakṛt (wrongdoers).