Shloka 10
अग्निनाम-प्रादुर्भावः प्रायश्चित्त-विधानं च
Agni’s Epithets, Manifestations, and Expiation Procedures
एकशीलिैश्व॒ मित्रत्वं भजन्ते पापकर्मिण: । स तेन दुःखमाप्रोति परत्र च विपद्यते,वह अपने ही-जैसे स्वभाववाले पापपरायण मनुष्योंसे मित्रता स्थापित कर लेता है। उस पापसे इस लोकमें तो दुःख होता ही है, परलोकमें भी उसे बड़ी विपत्ति भोगनी पड़ती है
ekaśīlaiś ca mitratvaṁ bhajante pāpakarmiṇaḥ | sa tena duḥkham āpnoti paratra ca vipadyate ||
The sinful, drawn to those of the same temperament, form friendships with people like themselves. From that association he reaps suffering in this very world, and after death as well he falls into grave misfortune.
व्याध उवाच
Educational Q&A
One’s chosen companions shape one’s fate: friendship with the sinful brings immediate suffering and also harmful consequences after death. The verse warns that moral similarity attracts, so discernment in association is essential for dharma.
In the Vyādha’s instruction (a didactic discourse in Vana Parva), he explains ethical causality: people of similar nature bond together, and when that nature is sinful, the resulting companionship becomes a cause of misery in this life and downfall in the next.