Sanjaya frankly speaks to Dhritarāṣṭra at this time saying that Arjuna, who is the most noble minded, the most compassionate, the eternal well-wisher and the most virtuous;

although frequently fraught with difficulties along with his four brothers, instigated by thee and thy son, including horrid acts of treachery against them with intent to kill,

such as attempting to burn them all alive in a specially made house of combustible lac, administering poison and other unworthy deeds as well.

It is surely known to you that by Arjuna the destruction of all your clan is certain due to the fact that he has the support of the Parama Puruṣa, Krishna Himself, by his side.

He felt weak, overcome by his love and extreme compassion for his relatives. He was also filled with fear, not knowing what was Dharma(righteous) and what was Adharma (unrighteous). His mind was distracted by grief at the thought of losing his relatives.

So he cast aside his bow and arrow and sat down on the floor of the chariot as if to fast to the death.

42 *'The intermingling leads straight to Hell the family as well as the destroyers of the family; for, their Manes, with the (pious) offerings of rice-balls and water-libations failing, sink down (into Hell).'* (252)

Then the whole family as also the destroyers of the family, both have assuredly to go to Hell. See, if the whole lineage (वंशविस्तार) gets sunk down in this way, then their Manes that have already gone to Heaven, do also sink down. Where, the day-to-day and occasional (religious) duties cease to be performed in various ways, then who would offer to the Manes the Tilodaka (water and sesame mixed together) and what would the forefathers do without it, and how could they continue in Heaven? And so they too return to the family. Even as a serpent bites at the toe-nail only, but the poison spreads out to and makes the entire body including the hair on the head to suffer the pangs, in the same way these sins make the entire family sink into Hell.

'Saṅkaro narakāyaiva kulaghnānām kulasya ca'—The offsprings, that are born of an intermixture of castes, are not religious-minded and do not possess righteousness and rectitude, because they themselves are the product of persons, without virtue. So they behave against traditions and decorum of a race. Those who kill persons of a race war are called destroyers of the race. Such persons, lead not only themselves but also the whole race, to hell, because of destruction of traditions, of the race.

'Patanti pitaro hyeṣām luptapiṇḍodakakriyāḥ'—The manes of the destroyers of a race, fall because they do not get the ritual offerings of rice-balls (Piṇḍa) and water from them. The reason is, that when they get these offerings, because of those virtuous actions, they go to higher worlds. But, when they do not get those offerings, they cannot continue to live in those worlds and they are degraded.

A descendant, who is a hybrid has no regard for his ancestors, and he has no sentiment to offer anything, to them. Moreover, even if he offers anything, such as obsequies, as a social custom, without any regard and against the ordinance of scriptures, that is not received by the manes. The reason is, that he is not eligible to perform such rites. So they have a fall.

**Appendix—**There are two types of manes—'ājāna' and 'martya'. The manes who live in the world of manes are 'ājāna', while the manes who go to the world of manes after dying from the human-world are 'martya'. The 'martya' manes being deprived of the ritual offerings of rice-balls and water, have a downfall. Only those 'martya' manes have a downfall who have affinity for the family and offspring and expect to receive the ritual offerings of rice-balls and water.

**Colophon**—In the colophon of the Gītā the three expressions 'brahmavidyāyām', 'yogaśāstre' and 'śrīkr̥ṣṇārjunasamvāde' have been used in the singular number but 'Śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu' and 'upaniṣatsu'—these two expressions have been used in the plural number. It means that in all the upaniṣads, Śrīmadbhagavadgītā is also an upaniṣad in which 'brahmavidyā' (the discipline of knowledge), 'yogaśāstra' (the discipline of action) and 'Śrīkr̥ṣṇārjuna samvāda' (the discipline of devotion)—the three have been included.

In the Gītā 'Śrīkr̥ṣṇārjuna samvāda' viz., the dialogue between Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna begins with devotion and ends in devotion. In the beginning Arjuna, being confused with regard to his duty, takes refuge in God—'śiṣyaste'ham śādhi mām tvām prapannam' (Gītā 2/7) and in the end being inspired by the Lord for taking refuge in Him alone, by the expression 'māmekaṁ śaranam vraja', Arjuna takes refuge in Him alone, when he declares—'kariṣye vacanam tava' (I will do your bidding). Arjuna asked Lord Kṛṣṇa the means by which he might attain the highest good (Gītā 2/7, 3/2, 5/1). Therefore the Lord has also described 'Jñānayoga' (the discipline of knowledge) and 'Karmayoga' (the discipline of action) in the Gītā.

मग कुळा देखा अशेखा । आंणि कुळघातका । येरयेरा नरक । जाणें आथी ॥ २५२ ॥

देखें वंशवृद्धि समस्त । यापरी होय पतित । मग मग वोवांडिती स्वर्गस्थ । पूर्वपुरुष ॥ २५३ ॥

जेथ नित्यादि क्रिया ठाके । आणि नैमित्तिक पारुखे । तेथ कवणा तिळोदकें । कवण अर्पी ॥ २५४ ॥

तरी पितर काय करिती । कैसेनि स्वर्गीं बसती । म्हणोनि तेही येती । कुळापासी ॥ २५५ ॥

जैसा नखाग्रीं व्याळु लागे । तो शिखांत व्यापी वेगें । तेवी आब्रह्म कुळ अवघें । आप्लविजे ॥ २५६ ॥

(1.252) और फिर सब कुल को और कुल का घात करने वालों को नरक प्राप्त होता है।

(1.253) देखिए, सब वंशवृद्धि जब इस प्रकार पतित हो जाती है तब पूर्व-पुरुष भी स्वर्ग से नीचे गिरते हैं।

(1.254) जहाँ नित्य स्नान-सन्ध्यादि क्रियाएँ बन्द हो जाती हैं और नैमित्तिक क्रिया भी लुप्त हो जाती है वहाँ कौन किसे तिलांजलि देता है?

(1.255) तो फिर पितृ क्या करेंगे? स्वर्ग में कैसे रहेंगे? इसलिए वे भी अपने कुलवालों के पास आ जाते हैं।

(1.256) जैसे साँप नखाग्र में काटे तो भी मस्तक पर्यन्त व्याप लेता है, वैसे ही इस पाप से ब्रह्मलोक तक पहुँचे हुए पूर्वज भी सब डूब जाते हैं।

‘सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च’— वर्ण-मिश्रणसे पैदा हुए वर्णसंकर-(सन्तान-) में धार्मिक बुद्धि नहीं होती। वह मर्यादाओंका पालन नहीं करता; क्योंकि वह खुद बिना मर्यादासे पैदा हुआ है। इसलिये उसके खुदके कुलधर्म न होनेसे वह उनका पालन नहीं करता, प्रत्युत कुलधर्म अर्थात् कुलमर्यादासे विरुद्ध आचरण करता है।

जिन्होंने युद्धमें अपने कुलका संहार कर दिया है, उनको ‘कुलघाती’ कहते हैं। वर्णसंकर ऐसे कुलघातियोंको नरकोंमें ले जाता है। केवल कुलघातियोंको ही नहीं, प्रत्युत कुल-परम्परा नष्ट होनेसे सम्पूर्ण कुलको भी वह नरकोंमें ले जाता है।

**‘पतन्ति पितरो होषां लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रिया’:** —जिन्होंने अपने कुलका नाश कर दिया है, ऐसे इन कुलघातियोंके पितरोंको वर्णसंकरके द्वारा पिण्ड और पानी (श्राद्ध और

तर्पण) न मिलनेसे उन पितरोंका पतन हो जाता है। कारण कि जब पितरोंको पिण्ड-पानी मिलता रहता है, तब वे उस पुण्यके प्रभावसे ऊँचे लोकोंमें रहते हैं। परन्तु जब उनको पिण्ड-पानी मिलना बन्द हो जाता है, तब उनका वहाँसे पतन हो जाता है अर्थात् उनकी स्थिति उन लोकोंमें नहीं रहती।

पितरोंको पिण्ड-पानी न मिलनेमें कारण यह है कि वर्णसंकरकी पूर्वजोंके प्रति आदर-बुद्धि नहीं होती। इस कारण उनमें पितरोंके लिये श्राद्ध-तर्पण करनेकी भावना ही नहीं होती। अगर लोक-लिहाजमें आकर वे श्राद्ध-तर्पण करते भी हैं, तो भी शास्त्रविधिके अनुसार उनका श्राद्ध-तर्पणमें अधिकार न होनेसे वह पिण्ड-पानी पितरोंको मिलता ही नहीं। इस तरह जब पितरोंको आदरबुद्धिसे और शास्त्रविधिके अनुसार पिण्ड-जल नहीं मिलता, तब उनका अपने स्थानसे पतन हो जाता है।

**परिशिष्ट भाव—**पितरोंमें एक ‘आजान’ पितर होते हैं और एक ‘मर्त्य’ पितर। पितरलोकमें रहनेवाले पितर ‘आजान’ हैं और मनुष्यलोकसे मरकर गये पितर ‘मर्त्य’ हैं। श्राद्ध और तर्पण न मिलनेसे मर्त्य पितरोंका पतन होता है। पतन उन्हीं मर्त्य पितरोंका होता है, जो कुटुम्बसे, सन्तानसे सम्बन्ध रखते हैं और उनसे श्राद्ध-तर्पणकी आशा रखते हैं।