Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 11

अहिंसयित्वा ब्रह्महत्याविधानम् / Brahmahatyā incurred without physical violence

Devanagari script

पृथिव्युवाच यथा महाणेवि क्षिप्त: क्षिप्रं लेष्टविनश्यति । तथा दुश्नरितं सर्व त्रिवृत्यां च निमज्जति

Transliteration

pṛthivy uvāca yathā mahārṇave kṣiptaḥ kṣipraṁ leṣṭo vinaśyati | tathā duścaritaṁ sarvaṁ trivṛttyāṁ ca nimajjati ||

Translation

Wika ng Daigdig: “Kung paanong ang tipak ng lupa na inihagis sa malawak na karagatan ay agad natutunaw at naglalaho, gayon din ang lahat ng masamang gawa ay lumulubog at nalulunod sa taong nabubuhay sa tatlong kabuhayang Brahman—ang magsagawa ng handog para sa iba, ang magturo, at ang tumanggap ng kaloob.”

Word by Word

• {'pṛthivī uvāca': '‘The Earth said’ (personified Earth speaking)', 'yathā': 'just as', 'mahārṇava': 'the great ocean', 'kṣiptaḥ': 'thrown, cast', 'kṣipram': 'quickly, at once', 'leṣṭaḥ': 'a clod/lump (of earth)', 'vinaśyati': 'perishes, dissolves, is destroyed', 'tathā': 'so, in the same way', 'duścaritam': 'bad conduct, wrongdoing, misconduct', 'sarvam': 'all, entirely', 'trivṛttyām': 'in the threefold livelihood/occupation (of a brāhmaṇa)', 'nimajjati': 'sinks, is submerged, is drowned (i.e., loses force/visibility)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Pṛthivī (Earth)
• mahārṇava (great ocean)
• leṣṭa (clod/lump of earth)
• trivṛtti (threefold Brahmin livelihood: yājana, adhyāpana, pratigraha)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse uses a simile to teach that a brāhmaṇa who sustains himself through the sanctioned threefold vocation—performing sacrifices for others (yājana), teaching (adhyāpana), and accepting appropriate gifts (pratigraha)—has the power to submerge and neutralize wrongdoing, as a clod dissolves in the ocean.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhīṣma’s discourse on dharma, he reports a statement attributed to the Earth (Pṛthivī), who illustrates through an image (a clod thrown into the ocean) how certain dharmic modes of life are understood to overwhelm and ‘drown’ demerit.