Shloka 17
मानवसर्गः, चातुर्वर्ण्य-गुणकर्म, यज्ञ-प्रतिपादनम्, आश्रमधर्म-फल, नरकवर्णनम्
तासु क्षीणास्व् अशेषासु वर्धमाने च पातके द्वन्द्वाभिभवदुःखार्तास् ता भवन्ति ततः प्रजाः
tāsu kṣīṇāsv aśeṣāsu vardhamāne ca pātake dvandvābhibhavaduḥkhārtās tā bhavanti tataḥ prajāḥ
When those (virtues and righteous restraints) are utterly exhausted and sin keeps increasing, the people then become oppressed by the blows of the pairs of opposites, afflicted with sorrow and distress.
Sage Parāśara (speaking to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Consequences of dharma-kṣaya: how people fall into duḥkha under dvandvas
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: compassionate
Concept: When virtues are depleted and sin increases, beings become dominated by dvandvas (pairs of opposites), resulting in pervasive sorrow.
Vedantic Theme: Maya
Application: Practice equanimity amid pleasure/pain and gain/loss; reduce reactive habits that amplify dvandva-driven suffering.
Vishishtadvaita: Dvandvas bind the real self through karma and guṇas; turning toward the Lord (śaraṇāgati/bhakti) stabilizes the self without denying worldly reality.
FAQs
Here dvandva signifies the destabilizing forces of duality—pleasure and pain, gain and loss—that overpower people when virtue is exhausted and sin increases, marking the lived experience of Kali Yuga.
He links societal misery directly to moral depletion: as righteous qualities vanish and wrongdoing grows, the populace becomes inwardly and outwardly afflicted—dominated by conflict, fluctuation, and sorrow.
Though not named in the verse, the teaching presumes Vishnu as the supreme governor of cosmic order: Kali’s decline is a phase within His regulated yuga-cycle, and restoration ultimately depends on re-alignment with dharma upheld by Him.