Shloka 11

अहिंसयित्वा ब्रह्महत्याविधानम् / Brahmahatyā incurred without physical violence

Devanagari script

पृथिव्युवाच यथा महाणेवि क्षिप्त: क्षिप्रं लेष्टविनश्यति । तथा दुश्नरितं सर्व त्रिवृत्यां च निमज्जति

Transliteration

pṛthivy uvāca yathā mahārṇave kṣiptaḥ kṣipraṁ leṣṭo vinaśyati | tathā duścaritaṁ sarvaṁ trivṛttyāṁ ca nimajjati ||

Translation

A Terra disse: “Assim como um torrão de terra, lançado ao grande oceano, depressa se dissolve e desaparece, do mesmo modo toda má conduta afunda e fica submersa naquele que vive pelos três meios bramânicos de sustento—sacrificar por outros, ensinar e aceitar dádivas.”

Word by Word

• {'pṛthivī uvāca': '‘The Earth said’ (personified Earth speaking)', 'yathā': 'just as', 'mahārṇava': 'the great ocean', 'kṣiptaḥ': 'thrown, cast', 'kṣipram': 'quickly, at once', 'leṣṭaḥ': 'a clod/lump (of earth)', 'vinaśyati': 'perishes, dissolves, is destroyed', 'tathā': 'so, in the same way', 'duścaritam': 'bad conduct, wrongdoing, misconduct', 'sarvam': 'all, entirely', 'trivṛttyām': 'in the threefold livelihood/occupation (of a brāhmaṇa)', 'nimajjati': 'sinks, is submerged, is drowned (i.e., loses force/visibility)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Pṛthivī (Earth)
• mahārṇava (great ocean)
• leṣṭa (clod/lump of earth)
• trivṛtti (threefold Brahmin livelihood: yājana, adhyāpana, pratigraha)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses a simile to teach that a brāhmaṇa who sustains himself through the sanctioned threefold vocation—performing sacrifices for others (yājana), teaching (adhyāpana), and accepting appropriate gifts (pratigraha)—has the power to submerge and neutralize wrongdoing, as a clod dissolves in the ocean.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhīṣma’s discourse on dharma, he reports a statement attributed to the Earth (Pṛthivī), who illustrates through an image (a clod thrown into the ocean) how certain dharmic modes of life are understood to overwhelm and ‘drown’ demerit.