Shloka 15
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
ब्रह्मस्वहृत्कृमिः पापो भविष्याम्यधमाधमः ।
अथवा प्रेष्यतां यास्ये वरमेवात्मविक्रयः ॥
brahmasvahṛtkṛmiḥ pāpo bhaviṣyāmy adhamādhamaḥ | athavā preṣyatāṃ yāsye varam evātmavikrayaḥ ||
میں گناہگار کیڑے کی مانند—برہمن کی ملکیت چرانے والا—کمینوں میں بھی کمینہ بن جاؤں گا۔ یا پھر غلامی میں گر پڑوں گا؛ اس سے بہتر ہے کہ آدمی خود کو بیچ دے، نہ کہ وہ (غلامی)۔
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FAQs
The verse presents a stark hierarchy of moral downfall: stealing ‘brahmasva’ (property tied to Brāhmaṇas or sacred trust) is portrayed as a grievous sin leading to extreme degradation (‘worm’, ‘lowest of the low’). The speaker frames even social humiliation (servitude) or the drastic act of self-sale as preferable to committing that theft—underscoring that certain adharma, especially violations against sacred/social trust, are worse than severe personal hardship.
This verse aligns most closely with ancillary dharma-śikṣā (ethical instruction) rather than the core pañcalakṣaṇa topics (sarga, pratisarga, vaṃśa, manvantara, vaṃśānucarita). If mapped, it would be placed under ‘vaṃśānucarita’/narrative instruction only insofar as it occurs within a story or dialogue illustrating dharma; it is not directly cosmological or genealogical in content.
Symbolically, ‘worm’ (kṛmi) indicates consciousness narrowed to the lowest, most instinct-bound state—an image for the contraction of dharma and dignity caused by betrayal of sacred trust (brahmasva). The contrast—servitude or even self-sale being ‘better’—suggests an inner teaching: accept external loss (status, comfort) rather than internal corruption (adharmic gain), because inner corruption determines the deeper trajectory of the self.