Adhyāya 122 — Śruta-vṛtta-yukta Brāhmaṇa and the Ethics of Dāna
Maitreya–Vyāsa Saṃvāda
तमृषिं द्रष्टमगमत् सर्वास्वन्यासु योनिषु । श्वाविद्वोधावराहाणां तथैव मृगपक्षिणाम्
tam ṛṣiṁ draṣṭum agamat sarvāsv anyāsu yoniṣu | śvāvid-uddhā-varāhāṇāṁ tathaiva mṛga-pakṣiṇām | śvapāka-śūdra-vaiśyānāṁ kṣatriyāṇāṁ ca yoniṣu |
Vyāsa berkata: Setelah mengembara melalui banyak rahim dan bentuk kelahiran lain—di antara landak, biawak, babi hutan, demikian pula rusa dan burung; bahkan di antara śvapāka, Śūdra, Vaiśya, dan Kṣatriya—akhirnya ia terlahir dalam keluarga Kṣatriya. Sesudah menapaki kelahiran-kelahiran itu setahap demi setahap, dan oleh anugerah Vyāsa yang perkasa serta bercahaya, ia pun pergi menemui sang resi itu.
व्यास उवाच
The verse underscores karmic causality and the long arc of rebirth: a being may traverse many forms of existence, and only after such experience—assisted by the grace of a realized guide like Vyāsa—attains a human birth conducive to seeking sages and higher dharma.
Vyāsa narrates that a person (previously moving through many animal and human social births) is finally born as a Kṣatriya; then, in that life, he goes to meet and behold a particular ṛṣi, implying a turning toward instruction, purification, or resolution of a prior account.