Page:Bhagavad Gita - Annie Besant 4th edition.djvu/25

family traditions^[1] perish; in the perishing of tradition, lawlessness overcomes the whole family; (40)

 

अधर्माभिभवात्कृष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रियः । स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसङ्करः ॥ ४१ ॥

Owing to predominance of lawlessness, O Krishna, the women of the family become corrupt; women corrupted, O Vârshneya,^[2] there ariseth caste confusion; (41)

 

सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च । पतन्ति पितरो ह्येषां लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रियाः ॥ ४२ ॥

This confusion draggeth to hell the slayers of the family, and the family; for their ancestors fall, deprived of rice-balls and libations. (42)

 

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1. Dharma; this is a wide word, primarily meaning the essential nature of a thing, that which makes it to be what it is externally: hence, the laws of its being, its duty: and it includes religious rites, appropriate to those laws, customs, also righteousness.
2. Belonging to the family of Vrishni.