Mahabharata 3.201.59 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 201, Shloka 59
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
ये च दुष्कृतकर्माण: पूय॑ं तेषां विधीयते । एवं नदी महाराज सर्वकामप्रदा हि सा,महाराज! इस प्रकार वह नदी सम्पूर्ण कामनाओंको देनेवाली है; किंतु जो पापी जीव हैं उनके लिये उस नदीका जल पीब बन जाता है
ye ca duṣkṛtakarmāṇaḥ pūyaṃ teṣāṃ vidhīyate | evaṃ nadī mahārāja sarvakāmapradā hi sā ||
قال فايشامبايانا: «أما الذين ساءت أعمالهم، فإن ذلك الماء نفسه يُقَدَّر لهم أن يصير قيحًا. وهكذا، أيها الملك العظيم، فالنهر واهبٌ لكل المُنى؛ غير أنه يتحول للكائنات الآثمة إلى شيءٍ قذرٍ كريه.»
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the fruit of an object or experience depends on one’s karma and moral condition: what is beneficent and wish-fulfilling for the righteous can become repulsive and harmful for the sinful. Ethical conduct shapes how the world is encountered and what it yields.
Vaiśampāyana continues a description to the king, explaining the extraordinary nature of a certain river: it is famed as a bestower of all desired things, yet for those burdened with evil deeds its water is transformed into pus—highlighting a moral differentiation in the river’s effects.
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