Shloka 61
उपदेशदोषप्रसङ्गः (Upadeśa-doṣa-prasaṅgaḥ) — The Risk of Misapplied Counsel
एवं तवोग्रं हि तप उपदेशेन नाशितम् । पुरोहितत्वमुत्सृज्य यतस्व त्वं पुनर्भवे
evaṁ tavograṁ hi tapa upadeśena nāśitam | purohitattvam utsṛjya yatasva tvaṁ punarbhave ||
“Pertapaanmu yang keras itu benar-benar telah musnah kerana engkau berpaling kepada pemberian ajaran. Maka, tinggalkanlah tugas sebagai purohita dan berusahalah kembali—agar engkau dapat menyeberangi putaran kewujudan duniawi.”
पुरोहित उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that intense spiritual discipline (tapas) can be compromised by worldly roles and engagements—here, the act of giving instruction is presented as a cause of loss of ascetic merit. The counsel is to relinquish the priestly office and return to focused striving aimed at liberation from repeated worldly becoming (punarbhava).
The speaker, identified as a purohita, addresses someone who had undertaken severe austerities. He states that those austerities have been nullified due to the act of giving counsel/teaching, and he urges the addressee to abandon priestly duties and resume spiritual effort directed toward crossing beyond samsaric existence.