Shloka 36
पञ्चवर्णोत्पत्तिः — The Origin of the Five-Colored Fiery Being and Ritual-Disruptor Lineages
प्रत्येक जीव अपने किये हुए कममोसे ही मृत्युके पश्चात् दुःख भोगता है और उस दुःखका भोग करनेके लिये ही वह (चाण्डालादि) पापयोनिमें जन्म लेता है ।। ततः कर्म समादत्ते पुनरन्यं नवं बहु । पच्यते तु पुनस्तेन भुक्त्वापथ्यमिवातुर:,वहाँ फिर नये-नये बहुत-से पापकर्म कर डालता है, जिसके कारण कुपथ्य खा लेनेवाले रोगीकी भाँति उसे नाना प्रकारके कष्ट भोगने पड़ते हैं
pratyekaḥ jīvaḥ svaiḥ kṛtaiḥ karmabhiḥ eva mṛtyoḥ paścāt duḥkhaṃ bhuṅkte, tasya duḥkhasya bhogārtham eva sa (cāṇḍālādi) pāpayoniṣu jāyate. tataḥ karma samādatte punar anyaṃ navaṃ bahu; pacyate tu punas tena bhuktvā apathyam ivāturaḥ.
The hunter said: “Each being, after death, experiences suffering only as the result of its own deeds; and precisely in order to undergo that suffering it is born into sinful wombs—such as among outcastes and the like. Then, once again, it takes up many new and further actions; and by those it is cooked (tormented) again and again—like a sick man who, having eaten what is harmful, must endure many kinds of distress.”
व्याध उवाच
Educational Q&A
Suffering after death and the circumstances of rebirth are presented as consequences of one’s own actions. The verse stresses personal moral responsibility and warns that harmful conduct tends to repeat, creating a cycle of further pain—like illness worsened by consuming what is unwholesome.
In the Vana Parva’s dharma-instruction context, the hunter (vyādha) is explaining to his listener how karma leads to post-mortem suffering and rebirth in blameworthy conditions, and how beings often continue to commit new wrongs, thereby prolonging their affliction.