Shloka 8
यावन्न क्षीयते कर्म तावत् तस्य स्वरूपता । क्षीणकर्मा नरो लोके रूपान्यत्वं नियच्छति,जबतक शरीरके प्रारब्ध-कर्मोंका क्षय नहीं होता तबतक उस जीवकी उस शरीरसे एकरूपता रहती है। जब कर्मोंका क्षय हो जाता है, तब वह दूसरे स्वरूपको प्राप्त हो जाता है
yāvan na kṣīyate karma tāvat tasya svarūpatā | kṣīṇakarmā naro loke rūpānyatvaṁ niyacchati ||
Vaiśampāyana said: So long as a being’s karma has not been exhausted, it remains identified with that very embodied form. But when the store of karma is spent, a person in this world passes on to another state and form—showing that embodiment persists only as long as the force of past action sustains it.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Embodied identity lasts only while the momentum of karma (especially prārabdha) remains; when that karmic force is exhausted, the being transitions to another condition or form, underscoring the causal link between action and embodiment.
Vaiśampāyana delivers a reflective doctrinal statement within the Ashramavāsika context, explaining how karmic residue sustains a particular bodily state and how the end of that karma leads to a change of state—supporting the parva’s themes of withdrawal, mortality, and the consequences of past deeds.