Shloka 22
Aṣṭāvakra’s Visit to Kubera: Hospitality, Temptation, and the Ethics of Restraint (अष्टावक्र-वैश्रवणोपाख्यानम्)
समीक्षस्व पुनर्बुद्ध्या पापं त्यक्त्वा द्विजोत्तम । अयज्ञवाहिनं पापमकार्षास्त्वं सुदुर्मते
samīkṣasva punar buddhyā pāpaṁ tyaktvā dvijottama | ayajñavāhinaṁ pāpam akārsās tvaṁ sudurmate ||
Sinabi ni Vaiśampāyana: “O pinakamainam sa mga dalawang-ulit na isinilang, pag-isipan mong muli nang may higit na malinaw na pag-unawa, at talikdan ang makasalanang hangarin. Sa iyong kamangmangan ay nagawa mo ang isang mabigat na kasalanan—isang gawang humahadlang sa daloy ng handog at sa banal na tungkulin.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse urges moral self-review: one should re-examine one’s actions with clear intelligence, abandon sinful intention, and recognize that deeds which hinder yajña (sacred duty and social-religious order) are serious violations of dharma.
Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, reports a rebuke addressed to a brāhmaṇa: the speaker calls him to reconsider and condemns his misguided act as a grave sin that disrupts sacrificial and dharmic practice.