Shloka 30

देवतापितृप्रश्नः — Nārada at Badarīāśrama: the ultimate referent of daiva and pitṛ worship

Devanagari script

मर्यादा नियता: स्वयम्भुवा य इहेमा: प्रभिनत्ति दशगुणा मनो<नुगत्वात्‌ | निवसति भृशमसुखं पितृविषय- विपिनमवगाहा[ स पाप:

Transliteration

maryādā niyatāḥ svayambhuvā ya ihemaḥ prabhinatti daśa-guṇā mano’nugatvāt | nivasati bhṛśam asukhaṃ pitṛ-viṣaya-vipinam avagāhya sa pāpaḥ ||

Translation

व्यास ने कहा—जो मन की स्वेच्छाचारी प्रवृत्ति के वश होकर स्वयम्भू (ब्रह्मा) द्वारा निश्चित धर्म की दस प्रकार की मर्यादाओं को यहाँ तोड़ देता है, वह पापात्मा पितृलोक के वन-प्रदेश में प्रवेश करके वहाँ असिपत्रवन में अत्यन्त दुःख भोगता हुआ निवास करता है।

Word by Word

• {'maryādāḥ': 'boundaries, limits, ordained restraints (of conduct/dharma)', 'niyatāḥ': 'fixed, regulated, laid down', 'svayambhuvā': 'by Svayambhū, the Self-born (epithet of Brahmā/Creator)', 'iha': 'here (in this world)', 'imāḥ': 'these', 'prabhinatti': 'breaks, violates, shatters', 'daśa-guṇāḥ': 'tenfold / consisting of ten aspects', 'mano’nugatvāt': 'because of following the mind

• due to mind-led self-indulgence', 'nivasati': 'dwells, remains', 'bhṛśam': 'excessively, intensely', 'asukham': 'unhappiness, suffering, misery', 'pitṛ-viṣaya': 'the realm/domain of the Pitṛs (ancestors)', 'vipinam': 'forest, wilderness', 'avagāhya': 'having entered, plunging into', 'pāpaḥ': 'a sinner

• one of sinful conduct', 'asipatravana': 'Asipatravana, the ‘forest of sword-like leaves’ (a hellish torment-region in dharma literature)'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa
• Svayambhū (Brahmā)
• Pitṛloka / Pitṛ-viṣaya (realm of the ancestors)
• Asipatravana

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma has divinely established limits (maryādā). When a person follows mere mental impulse and violates these tenfold restraints, the act is ethically culpable and brings severe post-mortem suffering; self-control and respect for dharmic boundaries are essential.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa is describing the consequence of breaking the Creator-ordained moral boundaries: the sinner, after death, enters the Pitṛ-realm’s dreadful forest—identified as Asipatravana—and endures intense misery there.