Shloka 74

अध्याय ३५१ — उञ्छवृत्ति-व्रतसिद्धेः मानुषस्य परमगतिः

Sūrya–Nāga Dialogue on the Perfected Gleaner-Ascetic

Devanagari script

शुभाशुभं कर्म समीरितं यत्‌ प्रवर्ततेि सर्वलोकेषु किज्चित्‌ । तस्मादृषेस्तद्धवतीति विद्याद्‌ दिव्यन्तरिक्षे भुवि चाप्सु चेति

Transliteration

śubhāśubhaṃ karma samīritaṃ yat pravartate sarvalokeṣu kiñcit | tasmād ṛṣes tad dhavatīti vidyād divyantarikṣe bhuvi cāpsu ceti ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana dit : «Toute action—bonne ou mauvaise—dont on dit qu’elle se produit quelque part à travers tous les mondes, il faut comprendre qu’elle procède de la présence qui soutient, celle du principe suprême (Nārāyaṇa). Il en est ainsi au ciel, dans la région médiane, sur la terre et dans les eaux également.»

Word by Word

• {'śubha': 'auspicious, meritorious, good', 'aśubha': 'inauspicious, demeritorious, evil', 'karma': 'action

• moral act with consequences', 'samīrita': 'declared, stated, described', 'yat': 'which, whatever', 'pravartate': 'proceeds, takes place, functions, comes into operation', 'sarva-lokeṣu': 'in all worlds/realms', 'kiñcit': 'anything at all

• any particular instance', 'tasmāt': 'therefore

• from that reason', 'ṛṣi': 'seer

• sage', 'tad': 'that (principle/reality just mentioned)', 'dhavatīti': 'runs/flows/operates (as the driving current)

• functions as the active force', 'vidyāt': 'one should know/understand', 'divya': 'heavenly

• celestial', 'antarikṣa': 'mid-region

• space between heaven and earth', 'bhuvi': 'on earth

• in the terrestrial realm', 'apsu': 'in the waters', 'ca': 'and', 'iti': 'thus'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• ṛṣi (sage)
• svarga (heaven)
• antarikṣa (mid-region)
• bhūmi/bhuvi (earth)
• āpas (waters)
• Nārāyaṇa (implied by the Hindi gloss)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

All good and evil actions occurring across every realm are to be understood as operating under the overarching sustaining reality of the Supreme (identified in the traditional gloss as Nārāyaṇa). The verse frames karma within a cosmic governance rather than as isolated, purely individual events.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Vaiśampāyana continues a philosophical exposition, stating a general principle about how actions (śubha and aśubha) manifest throughout the cosmos—heaven, the mid-region, earth, and waters—under a single supreme ground.