सः यदि पितरं वा मातरं वा भ्रातरं वा स्वसारं वा आचार्यं वा ब्राह्मणं वा किंचित् भृशम् इव प्रत्याह धिक् त्वा अस्तु इति एव एनम् आहुः पितृहा वै त्वम् असि मातृहा वै त्वम् असि भ्रातृहा वै त्वम् असि स्वसृहा वै त्वम् असि आचार्यहा वै त्वम् असि ब्राह्मणहा वै त्वम् असि इति
saḥ yadi pitaraṃ vā mātaraṃ vā bhrātaraṃ vā svasāraṃ vā ācāryaṃ vā brāhmaṇaṃ vā kiṃcit bhṛśam iva pratyāha dhik tvā astu iti eva enam āhuḥ pitṛhā vai tvam asi mātṛhā vai tvam asi bhrātṛhā vai tvam asi svasṛhā vai tvam asi ācāryahā vai tvam asi brāhmaṇahā vai tvam asi iti
If a man answers his father or mother, brother or sister, teacher or a brāhmaṇa harshly, people say to him: "Shame on you! You are a slayer of your father, a slayer of your mother, a slayer of your brother, a slayer of your sister, a slayer of your teacher, a slayer of a brāhmaṇa!"
0c862f25a197 · published Jul 26, 2026, 11:46:46 PM UTC
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A proof from custom: for a harsh word to his parents a man is branded a "slayer" — for a word already! The people's conscience testifies, without knowing it, that reverence is directed to the life in a person, and that to insult a living being is an attempt upon life. While the prāṇa is in the body, rudeness is murder in embryo.
The Upaniṣad overhears the truth in a piece of abuse — as before in the words "he sleeps" (6.8.1) and "he is hungry" (6.8.3). Language and custom are seams of revelation; one need only know how to read them. And incidentally, a strict ethic of speech: harshness toward bearers of life, and all the more toward a teacher or a brāhmaṇa, is not "bad manners" but a metaphysical crime.