Shloka 4
मार्कण्डेय उवाच वृथा जन्मानि चत्वारि वृथा दानानि षोडश । वृथा जन्म ह्[पुत्रस्य ये च धर्मबहिष्कृता:,मार्कण्डेयजीने कहा--(नीचे लिखे अनुसार) चार प्रकारके जीवन व्यर्थ हैं और सोलह प्रकारके दान व्यर्थ हैं। जो पुत्र-हीन हैं, जो धर्मसे बहिष्कृत (भ्रष्ट) हैं, जो सदा दूसरोंकी ही रसोईमें भोजन किया करते हैं तथा जो केवल अपने लिये ही भोजन बनाते एवं देवता और अतिथियोंको न देकर अकेले ही भोजन कर लेते हैं, उनका वह भोजन असत् कहा गया है। अत: उनका जन्म वृथा है (इस प्रकार इन चार प्रकारके मनुष्योंका जन्म व्यर्थ है)
mārkaṇḍeya uvāca | vṛthā janmāni catvāri vṛthā dānāni ṣoḍaśa | vṛthā janma hi putrasya ye ca dharmabahiṣkṛtāḥ |
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “Four kinds of births are in vain, and sixteen kinds of gifts are in vain. Indeed, the birth of one who is without a son is in vain, and so too of those who are cast out from dharma.”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Mārkaṇḍeya frames a moral evaluation of human life and giving: certain lives and certain acts of charity become ‘fruitless’ when they are disconnected from dharma—i.e., when one is socially/morally fallen from righteous conduct or fails to fulfill key householder responsibilities.
In Vana Parva, the sage Mārkaṇḍeya delivers didactic instruction. Here he begins a list-based teaching, stating that there are four ‘fruitless’ kinds of lives and sixteen ‘fruitless’ kinds of gifts, and he starts by naming the sonless and those excluded from dharma.