Shloka 78
भरतचरितम्—मृगासक्ति-हेतुकः समाधिभङ्गः, जातिस्मरत्वं, रहूगण-जाḍभरत-संवादः
सर्वस्यैव हि भूपाल जन्तोः सर्वत्र कारणम् धर्माधर्मौ यतस् तस्मात् कारणं पृच्छ्यते कुतः
sarvasyaiva hi bhūpāla jantoḥ sarvatra kāraṇam dharmādharmau yatas tasmāt kāraṇaṃ pṛcchyate kutaḥ
O King, for every being, everywhere, the operative cause is nothing other than dharma and adharma. Since these two already account for all causation, from where, then, need any further “cause” be asked?
Sage Parāśara (teaching within the Vishnu Purana’s main dialogue framework to Maitreya; here addressing a king as 'bhūpāla' in the cited verse)
Concept: Within empirical life, dharma and adharma function as the comprehensive proximate causes governing outcomes, so searching for an additional immediate cause is misplaced.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: When interpreting life events, examine one’s actions and intentions first; cultivate dharma rather than attributing everything to external chance.
Vishishtadvaita: Distinguishes proximate moral causality (karma) from ultimate causality (the Lord): karma explains ‘how’ outcomes arise in saṃsāra while remaining under Brahman’s sovereignty.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: shanta
Antaryamin: Yes
Jagat Karana: Yes
FAQs
This verse treats dharma and adharma as the decisive moral forces that generate outcomes for beings everywhere, making them the primary explanatory framework for worldly events.
He directs the inquiry away from searching for an extra, separate cause and toward understanding that karmic law—expressed as dharma and adharma—already accounts for the arising of results in lived experience.
Even when the verse foregrounds dharma-adharma, the Vishnu Purana’s larger theology places Vishnu as the supreme ground in which cosmic order and karmic law ultimately subsist, preserving the sovereignty of the Supreme Reality over moral causation.