Shloka 4
Abhaya-Itihāsa: Karma, Indriyas, and the Non-sensory Brahman
Brāhmaṇī–Brāhmaṇa Saṃvāda
भार्या: पतिकृतॉल्लोकानाप्रुवन्तीति न: श्रुतम् त्वामहं पतिमासाद्य कां गमिष्यामि वै गतिम्
vāyudeva uvāca | bhāryāḥ patikṛtān lokān āpnuvantīti naḥ śrutam | tvām ahaṃ patim āsādya kāṃ gamiṣyāmi vai gatim ||
风神伐由说道：“我们听说，妻子能到达丈夫以业行所赢得的诸界。然而若我得你为夫，却见你离群独坐，如弃业之人，并以严厉待我，我究竟将抵达怎样的归宿？以你为依止，我将往何界而去？”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a dharmic assumption in traditional ethics: a wife’s posthumous welfare is closely linked to her husband’s conduct and merit. It implicitly critiques neglect of household responsibility—if the husband abandons righteous action and fails in compassionate duty, the dependent spouse is left spiritually vulnerable.
A wife addresses her husband, invoking what she has ‘heard’ as accepted teaching—that wives reach the realms earned by their husbands. Seeing him withdrawn from action and treating her harshly, she asks anxiously what destiny she can attain by taking refuge in such a husband.