Shloka 17
शकुनि (हिरण्मय-पक्षी) उपदेशः — Vighasāśin and the Difficulty of Gārhasthya
देववंशान् पितृवंशान् ब्रह्मवंशांश्व शाश्वतान् | संत्यज्य मूढा वर्तन्ते ततो यान्त्यश्रुतीपथम्
devavaṁśān pitṛvaṁśān brahmavaṁśāṁś ca śāśvatān | saṁtyajya mūḍhā vartante tato yānty aśrutīpatham ||
Arjuna berkata: “Jalan-jalan yang kekal ialah ini: memuliakan keturunan para dewa, memuliakan keturunan para leluhur, dan memelihara keturunan Brahmana/ṛṣi melalui pengajian Veda serta pembelajaran suci. Mereka yang, dalam delusi, meninggalkan semuanya lalu menempuh jalan lain, jatuh ke jalan yang berada di luar kewibawaan Veda.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is upheld by sustaining three perennial obligations: reverence to the gods (deva-yajña), reverence to the ancestors (pitṛ-yajña), and preservation of the Vedic-ṛṣi tradition through study and transmission (brahma-yajña). Abandoning these leads to conduct that is outside Śruti, i.e., lacking Vedic sanction.
Arjuna articulates a normative standard of right conduct: he identifies the traditional triad of duties that maintain cosmic, familial, and intellectual-spiritual continuity, and warns that rejecting them results in a non-Śruti (non-Vedic) path.