Shloka 44
प्रह्लादस्य अव्यभिचारिणी भक्ति, मायाविनाशः, तथा विष्णोः विश्वरूप-स्तुतिः
सर्व एव महाभाग महत्त्वं प्रति सोद्यमाः तथापि पुंसां भाग्यानि नोद्यमा भूतिहेतवः
sarva eva mahābhāga mahattvaṃ prati sodyamāḥ tathāpi puṃsāṃ bhāgyāni nodyamā bhūtihetavaḥ
All people, O noble one, strive toward greatness; yet a man’s rise and prosperity are not caused by effort alone—his fortune, the ripening of prior causes, bears the decisive fruit.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Limits of personal effort (udyama) in producing prosperity; primacy of bhāgya/karma
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Though all strive for greatness, prosperity arises decisively from one’s fortune—the maturation of prior karmic causes—rather than effort alone.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Pursue excellence diligently while accepting that results depend on factors beyond control; cultivate steadiness and ethical means.
Vishishtadvaita: Human agency is real but subordinate within a divinely ordered moral cosmos; karmic order functions under the Lord’s governance (niyati) even when not explicit.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Shanta
FAQs
This verse teaches that while everyone strives for greatness, prosperity is not produced by effort alone; results manifest according to one’s ripened fortune shaped by prior karma, under the larger moral order upheld by Vishnu.
Parāśara frames prosperity as arising chiefly from bhāgya—the maturation of past causes—implying that effort is meaningful but not independently sufficient without the destined fruition of karma.
Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Vishnu Purana’s stance is that the cosmos is governed by a supreme, orderly dispensation—Vishnu as the ultimate ground of dharma and the giver of results—through which karma and destiny operate.