Shloka 38

Devanagari script

कच्चिन्न लौकायतिकान्ब्राह्मणांस्तात सेवसे।।अनर्थकुशला ह्येते बालाः पण्डितमानिनः।।।।

Transliteration

kaccin na laukāyatikān brāhmaṇāṃs tāta sevase | anarthakuśalā hy ete bālāḥ paṇḍitamāninaḥ ||

Translation

പ്രിയ താത, കച്ചിത് നീ ലോകായതവാദിയായ സംശയബുദ്ധിയുള്ള ബ്രാഹ്മണന്മാരുടെ കൂട്ടുകെട്ടിൽ ഏർപ്പെടുന്നില്ലല്ലോ? അവർ അനർത്ഥത്തിൽ മാത്രം നിപുണർ; ബാലന്മാരായിട്ടും തങ്ങളെ പണ്ഡിതന്മാരെന്ന് കരുതുന്നവർ.

Word by Word

कच्चित्I hope

नnot

लौकायतिकान्materialist / sophistic (laukāyatika)

ब्राह्मणान्brahmins

तातdear child

सेवसेyou associate with / serve

अनर्थकुशलाःskilled in causing harm

हिindeed

एतेthese (people)

बालाःfoolish / childish (men)

पण्डितमानिनःthinking themselves learned

Context

Dear brother, I hope you do not serve those brahmins who are atheists, who foolishly think of this world alone and fancy themselves as learned. They only bring disasters.

Characters & Entities

Bharata

brāhmaṇa

FAQs

What is the core ethical principle (Dharma) in this verse?

Choose counselors aligned with dharma and truth; wrong intellectual pride and cynical counsel can corrupt judgment and lead to adharma.

What is the narrative situation?

Rāma cautions Bharata about the influence of advisers, warning against association with harmful, self-styled ‘learned’ skeptics.

Which character virtue is emphasized?

Viveka (discernment): the ability to distinguish genuine wisdom from pretended learning.