Shloka 25
Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
अयज्ञीयद्रुमे देशे रुकुसिंहनिषेविते | भविता त्वं मृग: क्रूरो महादुः:खसमन्वित:
ayajñīyadrume deśe rukusiṃhaniṣevite | bhavitā tvaṃ mṛgaḥ krūro mahāduḥkhasamanvitaḥ ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「供犠（ヤジュニャ）にふさわしからぬ樹々の生い茂る地、ルル鹿と獅子のみが出入りするその場所で、おまえは残酷な野獣となり、甚だしい苦しみを負うであろう。」この言葉は道徳的帰結を示す。すなわち、聖なる秩序と正しい行いを破る者は、ヤジュニャと共同体の支えから断たれ、卑下され恐怖に満ちた生へと投げ落とされるのである。
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores karmic retribution framed through dharma: wrongdoing leads to loss of human dignity and exclusion from the yajña-centered moral world, symbolized by being forced into a harsh wilderness among predators and fear.
Vaiśaṃpāyana reports a pronouncement (a curse-like consequence): the addressed person is foretold to become a cruel wild animal and live in a forest-region considered unfit for sacrificial activity, inhabited only by ruru-deer and lions, enduring great suffering.