Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 119
Puṣkara-Śapatha Itihāsa (Agastya–Indra Dispute at the Tīrthas) | पुष्कर-शपथ-आख्यानम्
उपाध्यायमध: कृत्वा ऋचो<ध्येतु अजूंषि च । जुहोतु च स कक्षाग्नौ बिसस्तैन्यं करोति यः:
upādhyāyam adhaḥ kṛtvā ṛco 'dhyetuṃ yajūṃṣi ca | juhotu ca sa kakṣāgnau bisastainyaṃ karoti yaḥ ||
婆罗堕阇说道：“盗取莲茎纤维（bisa）者，其罪等同于：令师长（优波陀耶）屈居下座，而以不敬之心诵习《梨俱吠陀》与《夜柔吠陀》；又将供献投入区区草火之中。此教诫在于：看似细微之盗，实为对法（达摩）的重大破坏；而神圣的学诵与祭祀，一旦轻慢师长、违失正仪，便由功德转为罪业。”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse equates the theft of something seemingly small (lotus-stalk fibres) with grave religious misconduct: disrespecting one’s teacher while undertaking Vedic study and performing a degraded form of ritual. It teaches that dharma depends on intention, reverence, and right conduct—not merely on the external act.
Bharadvāja is enumerating and grading moral faults. He states that a person who steals bisas bears a sin comparable to someone who humiliates the upādhyāya, studies the Vedas in that disrespectful posture, and offers oblations into an improper ‘grass-fire,’ thereby turning sacred acts into wrongdoing.