Shloka 39
वालखिल्या ऊचु: एकपादेन वृत्त्यर्थ ग्रामद्वारे स तिष्ठतु धर्मज्ञस्त्यक्तधर्मास्तु यस्ते हरति पुष्करम्,बालखिल्य बोले--जो आपका कमल ले गया हो, वह अपनी जीविकाके लिये गाँवके दरवाजेपर एक पैरसे खड़ा रहे और धर्मको जानते हुए भी उसका परित्याग करे
vālakhilyā ūcuḥ | ekapādena vṛtty-arthaṃ grāma-dvāre sa tiṣṭhatu dharmajñas tyakta-dharmāstu yas te harati puṣkaram |
वालखिल्या ऊचुः—एकपादेन वृत्त्यर्थं ग्रामद्वारे स तिष्ठतु । धर्मज्ञस्त्यक्तधर्मास्तु यस्ते हरति पुष्करम् ॥
गालव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Knowing dharma yet violating it is treated as a grave ethical failure; the verse frames punishment as both bodily austerity (standing on one foot) and public disgrace (at the village gate), emphasizing accountability for theft and hypocrisy.
The Vālakhilya sages pronounce a punitive injunction/curse: the person who has taken the addressed party’s lotus should be forced into a humiliating, ascetic posture at the village entrance as a means of subsistence, marking him as one who has forsaken dharma despite understanding it.