Shloka 91
Śaraṇāgata-Atithi-Dharma in the Kapota Narrative (कपोत-आख्यानम्—शरणागतधर्मः)
श्षपच उवाच अस्थानतो हीनत: कुत्सिताद् वा तद् विद्वांसं बाधते साधुवृत्तम् । श्वानं पुनर्यो लभते5भिषज्भात् तेनापि दण्ड: सहितव्य एव,चाण्डालने कहा--जो अयोग्य स्थानसे, अनुचित कर्मसे तथा निन्दित पुरुषसे कोई निषिद्ध वस्तु लेना चाहता है, उस विद्वानको उसका सदाचार ही वैसा करनेसे रोकता है (अत: आपको तो ज्ञानी और धर्मात्मा होनेके कारण स्वयं ही ऐसे निन्द्य कर्मसे दूर रहना चाहिये); परंतु जो बारंबार अत्यन्त आग्रह करके कुत्तेका मांस ग्रहण कर रहा है, उसीको इसका दण्ड भी सहन करना चाहिये (मेरा इसमें कोई दोष नहीं है)
śvapaca uvāca | asthānato hīnataḥ kutsitād vā tad vidvāṁsaṁ bādhate sādhuvṛttam | śvānaṁ punar yo labhate 'bhiṣajbhāt tenāpi daṇḍaḥ sahitavya eva ||
O Śvapaca disse: “A boa conduta de um homem instruído o impede de aceitar o que é proibido—seja buscado de um lugar impróprio, por um meio degradante ou de uma pessoa desprezível. Mas quem, repetidas vezes, com insistência excessiva, toma carne de cão até mesmo de um médico—só esse deve suportar a pena. Nisso, não tenho culpa.”
श्षपच उवाच
Educational Q&A
True learning expresses itself as sādhuvṛtta—inner restraint that prevents one from pursuing prohibited gains from improper sources. If someone knowingly persists in a forbidden act, the moral and karmic consequence belongs to the doer, not to the one who merely becomes an occasion for it.
A Śvapaca (Caṇḍāla) responds to a situation involving the taking of a prohibited substance (dog’s flesh). He argues that a genuinely wise and dharmic person would be checked by propriety itself; but if someone insists on taking it repeatedly—even if obtained via a physician—then that person must bear the resulting penalty, and the speaker disclaims blame.