Shloka 24
Sanatsujāta-Āhvāna (Summoning Sanatsujāta) — Vidura’s Invocation and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Doubt
तस्मिन् स्थितो वाप्युभयं हि नित्यं ज्ञानेन विद्वान् प्रतिहन्ति सिद्धम् | तथान्यथा पुण्यमुपैति देही तथागतं पापमुपैति सिद्धम्
tasmin sthito vāpy ubhayaṁ hi nityaṁ jñānena vidvān pratihanti siddham | tathānyathā puṇyam upaiti dehī tathāgataṁ pāpam upaiti siddham ||
In Jenem (dem höchsten Selbst) gegründet, vernichtet der Weise durch die Erkenntnis des Selbst beides — Verdienst und Schuld; dies ist eine stets anerkannte Wahrheit. Andernfalls erlangt das verkörperte Wesen, das sich mit dem Körper identifiziert, einmal die Frucht des Verdienstes und ein andermal muss es unweigerlich die gereifte Frucht zuvor erworbener Sünde erleiden.
सनत्सुजात उवाच
Educational Q&A
Abiding in the Supreme Self and gaining Self-knowledge dissolves the binding force of both merit and demerit; without that realization, the embodied person continues to cycle through experiencing the fruits of past good and bad actions.
Sanatsujāta instructs the listener on liberation: he contrasts the knower established in the Self—who transcends karmic accounting—with the ordinary body-identified person who alternately enjoys merit’s results and suffers sin’s ripened consequences.