Shloka 19
उद्योगपर्व अध्याय १३३ — संजये मातृउपदेशः
Udyoga Parva Adhyaya 133 — A Mother’s Counsel to Saṃjaya
नेति चेद् ब्राह्मण ब्रूयां दीयेंत हृदयं मम । नहाहं न च मे भर्ता नेति ब्राह्मणमुक्तवान्
neti ced brāhmaṇa brūyāṃ dīyeta hṛdayaṃ mama | na hy ahaṃ na ca me bhartā neti brāhmaṇam uktavān |
ਜੇ ਕਿਸੇ ਬ੍ਰਾਹਮਣ ਦੇ ਮੰਗਣ ‘ਤੇ ਮੈਂ ਉਸ ਦੀ ਇੱਛਿਤ ਵਸਤੂ ਲਈ ‘ਨਹੀਂ’ ਕਹਿ ਦਿਆਂ, ਤਾਂ ਉਸੇ ਪਲ ਮੇਰਾ ਹਿਰਦਾ ਟੁੱਟ ਜਾਵੇਗਾ; ਕਿਉਂਕਿ ਨਾ ਮੈਂ ਕਦੇ, ਨਾ ਮੇਰੇ ਪਤੀਦੇਵ ਨੇ ਕਦੇ, ਕਿਸੇ ਬ੍ਰਾਹਮਣ ਨੂੰ ‘ਨਹੀਂ’ ਆਖਿਆ ਹੈ।
पुत्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse upholds the dharma of dāna: a householder should not turn away a worthy supplicant—especially a brahmin—because refusal is portrayed as a moral wound to one’s conscience and a breach of long-held ethical discipline.
A son reports (or quotes) a woman’s vow-like statement: she declares that saying ‘no’ to a brahmin’s request would shatter her heart, and she emphasizes that neither she nor her husband has ever refused a brahmin, highlighting their established practice of generosity.