Shloka 46
अव्यक्त–प्रकृति–इन्द्रियविचारः
The Unmanifest, Prakṛtis, and the Sense-Complex
स्वरूपतामात्मकृतं च विस्तरं कुलान्वयं द्रव्यसमृद्धिसंचयम् । नरो हि सर्वो लभते यथाकृतं शुभाशुभेनात्मकृतेन कर्मणा
svarūpatām ātmakṛtaṃ ca vistaraṃ kulānvayaṃ dravyasamṛddhisañcayam | naro hi sarvo labhate yathākṛtaṃ śubhāśubhena ātmakṛtena karmaṇā ||
Parāśara said: A person attains—according to what he himself has done—beauty or ugliness of form, the extent of his progeny (worthy or unworthy sons and grandsons), birth in a noble or ignoble lineage, and the accumulation of wealth and prosperity. For every human being reaps results exactly in keeping with his own self-performed deeds, whether auspicious or inauspicious.
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches moral causality: one’s own auspicious and inauspicious actions shape concrete life outcomes—appearance, family expansion, birth in a particular lineage, and material prosperity—so responsibility for one’s condition primarily lies in one’s self-performed karma.
In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, the sage Parāśara is instructing about the workings of karma, emphasizing that social standing, progeny, and wealth are not random but arise in accordance with one’s prior and present deeds.