Shloka 5
Adhyāya 262: Śabda-brahman, Para-brahman, and the Ethics of Tyāga
Kapila–Syūmaraśmi Saṃvāda
नमो ब्राह्मणयज्ञाय ये च यज्ञविदो जना: । स्वयज्ञं ब्राह्मणा हित्वा क्षत्रयज्ञमिहास्थिता:
namo brāhmaṇayajñāya ye ca yajñavido janāḥ | svayajñaṃ brāhmaṇā hitvā kṣatrayajñam ihāsthitāḥ, vipra! |
नमो ब्राह्मणयज्ञाय ये च यज्ञविदो जनाः । स्वयज्ञं ब्राह्मणा हित्वा क्षत्रयज्ञमिहास्थिताः ॥
चुलाधार उवाच
Educational Q&A
Cūlādhāra emphasizes svadharma: each social and ethical role has its own proper discipline. He honors true knowledge of yajña, but criticizes Brahmins who abandon their own prescribed religious-ethical practice and take up Kṣatriya-like pursuits, implying that role-confusion undermines dharma.
In a didactic exchange in Śānti Parva, Cūlādhāra addresses a Brahmin (vipra). He offers respectful homage to the Brahminical ideal of yajña and to its genuine experts, then laments a contemporary decline: Brahmins are forsaking their own path and engaging in warrior-type rites and conduct.