Mahabharata — Shanti Parva, Shloka 25
अव्यक्त-मानस-सृष्टिवादः
Doctrine of Creation from the Unmanifest ‘Mānasa’
संचिनोत्यशुभं कर्म कलत्रापेक्षया नर: | एक: क्लेशानवाप्रोति परत्रेह च मानव:
sañcinoty aśubhaṃ karma kalatrāpekṣayā naraḥ | ekaḥ kleśān avāpnoti paratreha ca mānavaḥ ||
A man, out of attachment and dependence on his wife and household, accumulates sinful deeds. Yet in this world and in the next, it is he alone who must undergo the suffering and fearful consequences of those actions.
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
One should not justify wrongdoing as being for family or dependents; karmic results adhere to the doer, who must bear the suffering alone in this life and the next.
A Brahmin speaker delivers a moral instruction in the Shanti Parva, warning that attachment to spouse and household can lead a person to commit sins, but the burden of their consequences is not shared—only the individual experiences the fruits.