Shloka 40
Viṣṇu-sahasranāma—Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Recitation (विष्णोर्नामसहस्रम्)
असम्भाष्या: पितृणां च देवानां चैव पञज्च ते । स्नातकानां च विप्राणां ये चानये च तपोधना:,इन पाँचों पापाचारियोंसे देवताओं, पितरों, स्नातक ब्राह्मणों तथा अन्यान्य तपोधनोंको बातचीत भी नहीं करनी चाहिये
asambhāṣyāḥ pitṝṇāṃ ca devānāṃ caiva pañca te | snātakānāṃ ca viprāṇāṃ ye cānye ca tapodhanāḥ ||
Yama bersabda: “Lima golongan ini tidak patut diajak berbicara. Para dewa dan para Pitṛ (roh leluhur), demikian juga para Brahmana snātaka yang telah menyempurnakan masa pelajarannya, serta para pertapa yang kaya tapa, tidak wajar sekalipun berucap dengan para pelaku dosa itu.”
यम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a rule of ethical distance: certain grave wrongdoers are ‘asambhāṣya’—so morally contaminating or socially destructive that even conversation with them is to be avoided by the gods, ancestors, and the most disciplined human exemplars (snātakas and ascetics). It emphasizes that speech and association are forms of participation, so restraint protects dharma.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Yama is delivering normative instruction on dharma. Here he refers back to a previously listed set of “five” offenders and declares them unfit for interaction, extending the injunction universally—from divine and ancestral realms to learned Brahmins and austere sages.