Shloka 10
मानवसर्गः, चातुर्वर्ण्य-गुणकर्म, यज्ञ-प्रतिपादनम्, आश्रमधर्म-फल, नरकवर्णनम्
स्वर्गापवर्गौ मानुष्यात् प्राप्नुवन्ति नरा मुने यद् वाभिरुचितं स्थानं तद् यान्ति मनुजा द्विज
svargāpavargau mānuṣyāt prāpnuvanti narā mune yad vābhirucitaṃ sthānaṃ tad yānti manujā dvija
O sage, it is from the human condition that men attain either heaven or final release. O twice-born, to the station a person has chosen and cherished within—toward that very abode he goes.
Sage Parāśara
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: How embodied human life leads to svarga or apavarga, and how inner inclination determines destiny
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Only from human embodiment does one attain either svarga or apavarga, and one reaches the end toward which one’s inner choice and cherished intention is directed.
Vedantic Theme: Moksha
Application: Cultivate deliberate inner orientation (saṅkalpa) toward mokṣa through daily remembrance and value-based choices.
Vishishtadvaita: Apavarga is attained by a purified will that turns toward the Supreme, implying the soul’s dependence on and directedness to Viṣṇu as the goal.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Shanta
FAQs
This verse states that only from the human condition do beings reach either svarga (heavenly enjoyment) or apavarga (liberation), highlighting human life as the decisive arena for ultimate destiny.
Parāśara teaches that the place a person inwardly prefers and cultivates (abhiruci) becomes the direction of travel—one’s cherished aim aligns the soul with its corresponding state.
Although Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Vishnu Purana frames apavarga as the highest end ultimately grounded in the Supreme Reality; liberation is superior to heaven and culminates in transcendence under the supreme order upheld by Vishnu.