Shloka 103
Pitṛ-tīrtha Context: Marks of Sin, Śrāddha Discipline, and Karmic Ripening
in Yayāti’s Narrative
नरकेषु द्रुतं गच्छेदपहृत्याल्पकान्यपि । यद्वा तद्वा परद्रव्यमपि सर्षपमात्रकम्
narakeṣu drutaṃ gacchedapahṛtyālpakānyapi | yadvā tadvā paradravyamapi sarṣapamātrakam
盗みをなす者は—たとえ小さき物であっても—たちまち地獄へ赴く。たとえ他人の財を奪った量が芥子粒ほどの微少であっても同じである。
Unspecified (context-dependent within Bhūmi-khaṇḍa 67)
Concept: Karmic accountability is granular: stealing even a mustard-seed’s worth of another’s property leads swiftly to hellish consequence.
Application: Practice radical honesty in small things—office supplies, digital content, credit for work; train the mind to respect boundaries and ownership.
Primary Rasa: bhayanaka
Secondary Rasa: raudra
Type: celestial_realm
Visual Art Cues: {"scene_description":"A stark moral allegory: a single mustard seed glows in a thief’s palm, yet behind it yawns a vast, terrifying naraka chasm—iron cliffs, ash winds, and distant cries—showing disproportion between the ‘small’ act and its cosmic consequence. The scene emphasizes karmic law as precise and immediate, with the seed acting like a luminous indictment.","primary_figures":["thief holding a mustard seed","personified Yama (implied or distant)","shadowy naraka wardens (yamadūtas)"],"setting":"Threshold between an earthly granary and a hellish abyss, as if reality splits open at the moment of theft","lighting_mood":"dramatic chiaroscuro","color_palette":["charcoal black","ember orange","mustard yellow","iron gray","blood red"],"tanjore_prompt":"Tanjore painting style: central glowing mustard seed rendered with gold leaf, the thief frozen mid-act; behind, stylized naraka architecture with fiery reds and blacks, Yama’s distant throne hinted with ornate gold; heavy embellishment on borders, jewel-toned contrasts, moral iconography emphasized through halos and gold outlines.","pahari_prompt":"Pahari miniature style: symbolic split-scene—left a calm granary with delicate grains, right a stylized abyss with smoky washes; fine linework on the tiny mustard seed as focal point, restrained palette with sharp accents, expressive but subtle fear on the face.","kerala_mural_prompt":"Kerala mural style: bold outlines—mustard seed enlarged as emblem, naraka flames in rhythmic patterns; Yama and yamadūtas stylized with characteristic eyes and ornaments, red/yellow/green palette with blackened background fields, temple-wall symmetry and didactic clarity.","pichwai_prompt":"Pichwai cloth painting style: allegorical composition with a central mustard-seed medallion surrounded by concentric floral borders that darken outward into flame motifs; deep blue-black ground with gold and red detailing, stylized attendants at the margins, intricate patterning to convey cosmic law."}
Audio Atmosphere: {"recitation_mood":"dramatic","suggested_raga":"Durga","pace":"fast-dramatic","voice_tone":"authoritative","sound_elements":["thunder (distant)","conch shell (single)","low gong","wind howl","sudden silence"]}
Sandhi Resolution Notes: गच्छेदपहृत्याल्पकान्यपि = गच्छेत् + अपहृत्य + अल्पकानि + अपि; परद्रव्यमपि = परद्रव्यम् + अपि; यद्वा/तद्वा are fixed disjunctive particles.
FAQs
It teaches strict non-stealing: taking anything that belongs to another—however small—creates serious negative karma and leads to suffering.
It is a vivid minimization to stress that even the tiniest theft is still theft; moral accountability is not based on quantity.
It presents theft as an adharma that ripens into painful results (naraka), illustrating the causal certainty and immediacy (“swiftly”) of karmic consequences.