Shloka 16
Viṣṇu-sahasranāma—Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Recitation (विष्णोर्नामसहस्रम्)
न हि पुण्यं तथा पापं कृतं किंचिद् विनश्यति । पर्वकाले च यत् किंचिदादित्यं चाधितिष्ठति
na hi puṇyaṃ tathā pāpaṃ kṛtaṃ kiṃcid vinaśyati | parvakāle ca yat kiṃcid ādityaṃ cādhi tiṣṭhati ||
Yama sprach: „Wahrlich, weder Verdienst noch Sünde, die begangen wurden, gehen je zugrunde. Und was immer zur rechten Zeit—unter der vorstehenden Macht der Sonne—getan wird, nimmt ebenfalls seinen Platz in der sittlichen Ordnung ein und bringt die ihm gebührende Frucht hervor.“
यम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse affirms the permanence of karmic causality: neither merit (puṇya) nor sin (pāpa) disappears without consequence; deeds remain effective within the moral-cosmic order and mature into results in due course.
Yama, as the authority on justice and the afterlife, instructs the listener that actions are never lost. He adds that actions performed in their proper time/season—under the Sun’s presiding order—are also duly registered and bear fruit.