Shloka 123
Puṣkara-Śapatha Itihāsa (Agastya–Indra Dispute at the Tīrthas) | पुष्कर-शपथ-आख्यानम्
उदपानप्लवे ग्रामे ब्राह्मणो वृषलीपति: । तस्य सालोक््यतां यातु बिसस्तैन्यं करोति यः
udapānaplave grāme brāhmaṇo vṛṣalīpatiḥ | tasya sālokyatāṃ yātu bisastainyaṃ karoti yaḥ ||
ガウタマは言った。「人々が一つの井戸から水を汲む村に、シュードラ（Śūdra）の女と同棲するバラモンがいる。蓮の茎・繊維（mṛṇāla/bisa）を盗む者は、そのバラモンと同じ世界に至れ。ここでは、いかにも些細に見える盗みでさえ道徳の堕落として描かれ、ふさわしからぬ性の交わりによって社会的・倫理的規範を破ったバラモンと同等の来世の帰趨に結びつけられる。」
गौतम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that even small acts of theft carry serious moral weight, and that unethical conduct—whether stealing or violating prescribed social-ethical restraints—shapes one’s karmic destiny; the thief is said to reach the same posthumous realm as a Brahmin who cohabits with a Śūdra woman.
Gautama is giving a pointed ethical comparison: he describes a Brahmin in a village who lives with a Śūdra woman, then declares that a person who steals lotus-stalks should attain the same ‘world’ as that Brahmin—using equivalence of outcome to warn against moral lapses.