Shloka 41
अव्यक्त–प्रकृति–इन्द्रियविचारः
The Unmanifest, Prakṛtis, and the Sense-Complex
सर्वाणि कर्माणि पुरा कृतानि शुभाशुभान्यात्मनो यान्ति जन्तो: । उपस्थितं कर्मफलं विदित्वा बुद्धि तथा चोदयतेडन्तरात्मा
sarvāṇi karmāṇi purā kṛtāni śubhāśubhāny ātmano yānti jantoḥ | upasthitaṃ karmaphalaṃ viditvā buddhiṃ tathā codayate 'ntarātmā ||
Parāśara said: All deeds done in the past—whether auspicious or inauspicious—attach themselves to the embodied being as its own. Knowing that the fruit of action has now come due, the inner Self then impels the person’s understanding accordingly, directing one toward the experience and response that correspond to that ripened karma.
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Past actions—good and bad—inevitably mature into results for the individual, and when those results are due, the inner self prompts the intellect in a way that aligns one’s experience and choices with that ripened karma, emphasizing moral causality and personal responsibility.
In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, Parāśara is instructing about karma: he explains how earlier deeds adhere to a person and, when their fruits become present, the inner self influences the person’s understanding and direction in life accordingly.