Shloka 19
Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)
प्रादुर्भावश्व भूतानां देहत्यागस्तथैव च । प्राप्तिव्यायामयोगश्च सर्वमेतत् प्रतिष्ठितम्,प्राणियोंकी उत्पत्ति, देहावसान, लाभ” और हानि--ये सब प्रारब्धके ही आधारपर स्थित हैं
prādurbhāvaś ca bhūtānāṃ dehatyāgas tathaiva ca | prāptivyāyāmayogaś ca sarvam etat pratiṣṭhitam ||
Dijo Janaka: La manifestación de los seres vivientes, y asimismo el abandono del cuerpo; la ganancia y la pérdida; y el esfuerzo ligado a la obtención de resultados—todo ello queda establecido sobre lo ya puesto en marcha por las acciones pasadas (prārabdha).
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Janaka emphasizes that birth, death, and the experiences of gain and loss—along with the very conditions under which effort bears fruit—are grounded in prārabdha, the already-ripening portion of past karma. The ethical implication is steadiness and detachment: one should act rightly without being shaken by outcomes.
In the Shanti Parva’s reflective discourse, King Janaka speaks as a teacher of renunciation and wisdom, explaining to his listener that the major turns of embodied life and the results people meet are governed by previously initiated karma, framing how one should understand effort and outcome.