Shloka 18

Devanagari script

कदाचित्‌ सुकृतं तात कूटस्थमिव तिष्ठति । मज्जमानस्य संसारे यावद्‌ दुःखाद विमुच्यते

Transliteration

kadācit sukṛtaṃ tāta kūṭastham iva tiṣṭhati | majjamānasya saṃsāre yāvad duḥkhād vimucyate ||

Translation

At times, dear child, one’s accumulated merit stands firm—like something unshakably established—until the person who is sinking in saṃsāra is finally released from suffering.

Word by Word

कदाचित्sometimes

सुकृतम्merit; good deed

तातdear one; son (vocative)

कूटस्थम्unchanging; steadfast; like an anvil/peak (immovable)

इवas if; like

तिष्ठतिstands; remains

मज्जमानस्यof (one who is) sinking

संसारेin worldly existence; in saṃsāra

यावत्until; as long as

दुःखात्from suffering; from sorrow

विमुच्यतेis released; is freed

Speaker

पराशर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Parāśara

tāta (addressed listener)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Merit (sukṛta) does not necessarily yield immediate visible results; it can remain steady and latent, and when the time is ripe it becomes the sustaining force that helps a person overwhelmed by worldly existence move toward release from suffering.

What is happening in the narrative?

Parāśara is instructing an addressed listener (“tāta”), explaining how the fruits of past virtuous actions can persist like an immovable support and eventually aid one who is drowning in saṃsāra to become free from duḥkha.