Shloka 23
आत्यन्तिक-लयहेतुः: तापत्रय-विवेचनम् तथा ‘भगवान्/वासुदेव’ शब्दार्थः
Threefold Suffering and the Path to Final Liberation; Meaning of Bhagavān and Vāsudeva
को ऽधर्मः कश् च वै धर्मः कस्मिन् वर्ते ऽथवा कथम् किं कर्तव्यम् अकर्तव्यं किं वा किं गुणदोषवत्
ko 'dharmaḥ kaś ca vai dharmaḥ kasmin varte 'thavā katham kiṃ kartavyam akartavyaṃ kiṃ vā kiṃ guṇadoṣavat
What, indeed, is unrighteousness, and what is righteousness? In what should one abide—or by what manner should one live? What ought to be done, what ought not to be done, and what is to be regarded as possessing merit or fault?
Maitreya (questioning Sage Parāśara)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Defining dharma/adharma and criteria for merit and fault
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Ignorance obscures the very definitions of dharma and adharma, leaving one unable to judge what is obligatory, forbidden, meritorious, or blameworthy.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Adopt dharma as a lived discipline: consult śāstra, observe sādhus, and review actions by their effects on purity, compassion, and devotion.
Vishishtadvaita: Ethics is not merely social order but service-alignment: dharma is that which supports devotion and the jīva’s right relation to the Lord.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Shanta
FAQs
This verse frames the core Purāṇic ethical inquiry: how a person should live in alignment with the sustaining order (dharma) rather than actions that disrupt it (adharma).
Maitreya’s question sets up Parāśara’s forthcoming criteria-based teaching—right action is defined by alignment with dharma (duty, order, scriptural and situational propriety), while wrong action violates that order.
Even when the verse discusses ethics, the Vishnu Purana treats dharma as ultimately grounded in the Supreme Reality—Vishnu—whose cosmic sovereignty sustains the moral and social order.