Shloka 22
Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
समीक्षस्व पुनर्बुद्ध्या पापं त्यक्त्वा द्विजोत्तम । अयज्ञवाहिनं पापमकार्षास्त्वं सुदुर्मते
samīkṣasva punar buddhyā pāpaṁ tyaktvā dvijottama | ayajñavāhinaṁ pāpam akārsās tvaṁ sudurmate ||
Vaiśampāyana berkata: “Wahai yang terbaik antara yang dua kali lahir, renungilah sekali lagi dengan akal yang lebih jernih, buanglah niat yang berdosa. Dalam kebodohanmu engkau telah melakukan kesalahan yang berat—suatu perbuatan yang menghalang perjalanan korban dan kewajipan suci.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse urges moral self-review: one should re-examine one’s actions with clear intelligence, abandon sinful intention, and recognize that deeds which hinder yajña (sacred duty and social-religious order) are serious violations of dharma.
Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, reports a rebuke addressed to a brāhmaṇa: the speaker calls him to reconsider and condemns his misguided act as a grave sin that disrupts sacrificial and dharmic practice.