Shloka 20
Adhyāya 122 — Śruta-vṛtta-yukta Brāhmaṇa and the Ethics of Dāna
Maitreya–Vyāsa Saṃvāda
न तु नाशो$स्ति पापस्य यस्त्वयोपचित: पुरा । शूद्रेणार्थप्रधानेन नृशंसेनाततायिना,तुमने पूर्वजन्ममें अर्थथरायण, नृशंस और आततायी शूद्र होकर जो पाप संचय किया था, उसका सर्वदा नाश नहीं हुआ है
na tu nāśo 'sti pāpasya yas tvayopacitaḥ purā | śūdreṇārthapradhānena nṛśaṃsenātatāyinā ||
Vyāsa dijo: «El pecado que acumulaste antaño no ha sido destruido por completo. Pues en una vida anterior fuiste un Śūdra, movido sobre todo por la riqueza, cruel en tu conducta y agresor; el residuo moral de esos actos aún no se ha agotado del todo.»
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Past actions leave moral consequences that may persist across lives; even if one changes outward circumstances, accumulated pāpa is not automatically erased and must be exhausted through appropriate fruition and ethical transformation.
Vyāsa addresses the listener with a moral diagnosis: present suffering or obstacles are traced to previously accumulated wrongdoing—specifically, a former-life pattern of wealth-first motives, cruelty, and aggressive violence—whose karmic residue has not yet been fully spent.