Shloka 17
दासकर्मकरान् भृत्यानाचार्यतत््विक्ृपुरोहितान् । अवृत्त्यास्मान् प्रजहतो दृष्टवा कि जीवितेन ते
dāsakarmakarān bhṛtyān ācārya-tatvik-ṛpurohitān | avṛttyāsmān prajahato dṛṣṭvā kiṃ jīvitena te
เมื่อเจ้าเห็นตนทอดทิ้งพวกเรา—ทั้งทาส คนงาน บ่าวไพร่ อาจารย์ ฤตวิก และปุโรหิต—ให้ไร้เครื่องยังชีพ แล้วชีวิตของเจ้าจะมีประโยชน์อันใดเล่า?
पुत्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
One must not forsake those who depend on one’s protection—servants, workers, retainers, teachers, and priests—especially by cutting off their livelihood; such abandonment is portrayed as a grave lapse of dharma.
A son confronts an elder (addressed as 'you') with a sharp reproach: by abandoning the household’s dependents and religious functionaries and leaving them without sustenance, the elder makes his own life ethically meaningless.