Shloka 42
Prāyaścitta-vidhāna: Tapas, Dāna, Vrata, and Proportional Expiation (प्रायश्चित्तविधानम्)
कपाले यद्वदाप: स्यु: श्वद्तौ च यथा पय: । आश्रयस्थानदोषेण वृत्तहीने तथा श्रुतम्
kapāle yadvad āpaḥ syuḥ śvattau ca yathā payaḥ | āśrayasthānadoṣeṇa vṛttahīne tathā śrutam ||
जसे माणसाच्या कवटीत ठेवलेले पाणी आणि कुत्र्याच्या कातड्यात ठेवलेले दूध—आश्रयाच्या दोषामुळे अपवित्र होते, तसेच सदाचारहीन ब्राह्मणाचे शास्त्रश्रवण व शास्त्रज्ञानही आश्रयस्थानाच्या दोषामुळे दूषित होते।
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sacred knowledge gains authority and purity only when grounded in right conduct; when the moral ‘container’ is impure, learning itself becomes ethically compromised and socially untrustworthy.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Vyāsa uses vivid purity metaphors—water in a skull and milk in a dog’s hide—to warn that scriptural learning in a person lacking good conduct is corrupted by the defect of its bearer.