Shloka 30
अव्यक्त–प्रकृति–इन्द्रियविचारः
The Unmanifest, Prakṛtis, and the Sense-Complex
स्वयंकृतानि कर्माणि जातो जन्तु: प्रपद्यते । नाकृत्वा लभते कश्ित् किंचिदत्र प्रियाप्रियम्
svayaṃkṛtāni karmāṇi jāto jantuḥ prapadyate | nākṛtvā labhate kaścit kiṃcid atra priyāpriyam ||
Parāśara said: A being, once born, inevitably encounters the consequences of actions it has itself performed. Without having acted in the past, no one in this world obtains any result here—whether pleasing or displeasing.
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
That pleasure and pain arise from one’s own past actions (karma-phala). No one receives desirable or undesirable outcomes without having performed the causal deeds; this affirms ethical responsibility and the law of moral causation across births.
Parāśara is instructing his listener within the Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, emphasizing why beings experience varied fortunes: they are encountering the ripened results of their own previously performed actions, not arbitrary reward or punishment.