Shloka 23
Purohita-Niyoga and the Brahma–Kṣatra Concord
Aila–Kaśyapa Saṃvāda
कश्यप उवाच असंत्यागात् पापकृतामपापां- स्तुल्यो दण्ड: स्पृशते मिश्रभावात् | शुष्केणाद दहाते मिश्रभावा- न्न मिश्र: स्थात् पापकृद्धिः कथंचित्
kaśyapa uvāca | asaṃtyāgāt pāpakṛtām apāpāṃs tulyo daṇḍaḥ spṛśate miśrabhāvāt | śuṣkeṇārdraṃ dahate miśrabhāvān na miśraḥ sthāt pāpakṛddhiḥ kathaṃcit ||
迦叶波说道：“若不舍弃与罪人相交，即便无罪而正直之人，也会因结伴而被同样的惩罚所触及，因为交往使其与污秽‘杂染相混’。正如湿木与干木同置，亦会被火焚烧；因此，明智之人无论如何都不应与作恶者建立联系。”
कश्यप उवाच
Educational Q&A
Association has ethical consequences: keeping company with wrongdoers can make even a righteous person share in blame and punishment. Therefore, one should deliberately avoid intimate contact and sustained companionship with those devoted to sinful conduct.
In a didactic exchange within the Śānti Parva, the sage Kaśyapa instructs the listener using a vivid analogy—wet wood burning when mixed with dry wood—to explain how moral taint spreads through close association, urging deliberate separation from pāpakṛt (wrongdoers).