Shloka 10
Cāturhotra as Inner Sacrifice (Yoga-Yajña) and Nārāyaṇa Recitation
अभक्ष्यभक्षणं चैव मद्यपानं च हन्ति तम् । सचान्न॑ हन्ति तं चान्नं स हत्वा हन्यते पुन:
abhakṣyabhakṣaṇaṃ caiva madyapānaṃ ca hanti tam | sa cānnaṃ hanti taṃ cānnaṃ sa hatvā hanyate punaḥ ||
O hábito de comer o que não deve ser comido e de beber intoxicantes—isso arruína o homem. E quando ele consome o alimento de modo errado, é como se ‘matasse’ esse próprio alimento; tendo-o ‘matado’, ele é por sua vez destruído novamente—pelas consequências que surgem desse ato.
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Indulgence in forbidden food and intoxicants is self-destructive. Wrongful consumption is portrayed as ‘killing’ one’s sustenance, and the doer is then ‘killed’ in return—i.e., harmed by the moral, physical, and karmic consequences of that act.
A Brahmin speaker delivers an ethical warning: when a person adopts corrupt habits like eating prohibited items and drinking liquor, those habits become the cause of his downfall; the verse frames this as a reciprocal destruction between the eater and the food through the chain of consequences.