Shloka 15
Adhyaya 13 — The Son’s Account of Hell and the Question of Unseen Sin
यतस्ते विमुखा यान्ति निःश्वस्य गृहेधिनः ।
तस्मादिष्टश्च पूर्तश्च धामौ द्वावपि नश्यतः ॥
yataste vimukhā yānti niśvasya gṛhamedhinaḥ / tasmādiṣṭaśca pūrtaśca dhamau dvāvapi naśyataḥ
तस्मात् प्रेतश्वासात् गृहस्थाः पितरः पराङ्मुखा भवन्ति; तेनैव चोभे धाम्नी—इष्टफलम् पूर्तफलञ्च—विनश्यतः।
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FAQs
Merit (puṇya) is not merely accumulated but can be impaired by grave breaches of dharma; the verse warns that even iṣṭa and pūrta—classical pillars of gṛhastha merit—may fail to protect when one incurs certain powerful demerits tied to lineage/ancestral order.
This passage is primarily Dharma/ācāra and karma-phala instruction rather than sarga/pratisarga/vaṃśa/manvantara/vaṃśānucarita. It is best cataloged as ethical teaching embedded in narrative (upākhyāna) rather than a Pancalakṣaṇa core item.
‘Breath’ (niśvāsa) symbolizes the subtle momentum of karma that ‘blows away’ inherited/ritual merit; it conveys that unseen moral causality can overturn even well-established religious capital when fundamental order (ṛta/dharma) is violated.