Shloka 38
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
भोक्तव्यानि मयैतानि देवलोकगतेन वै | इहैव चैनं भोक्ष्यामि शुभाशुभफलोदयम्
bhoaktavyāni mayaitāni devalokagatena vai | ihaiva cainaṁ bhokṣyāmi śubhāśubhaphalodayam ||
‘Sesudah pergi ke alam para dewa, semua ini memang harus kualami; dan di sini juga akan kualami munculnya buah dari kebajikan dan keburukan’—demikian, didorong Prakṛti, ia beranggapan. Maka pasangan lawan seperti suka dan duka berulang menurut tabiatnya; namun karena kebodohan, sang diri berjasad membayangkan: ‘Ini menyerangku saja, dan aku harus berusaha lolos darinya.’ Terikat pada Prakṛti, ia pun tersesat dalam pikiran: ‘Aku akan pergi ke surga untuk menikmati buah semua tindakanku; dan buah nyata dari perbuatan baik dan buruk masa lampau akan kutanggung di sini.’
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights karmic causality and the delusion of personal doership: under the impulse of Prakṛti, pleasure and pain recur as natural opposites, but the ignorant self imagines ‘I alone am attacked’ and constructs plans about enjoying merit in heaven and suffering/experiencing other results here. The teaching points toward seeing these experiences as the unfolding of karma within nature, rather than as a uniquely personal assault.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing a king (addressed in the surrounding prose as ‘nareśvara’) in a reflective, philosophical mode. He describes how an embodied person, bound to Prakṛti, misinterprets the recurring experiences of life (dvandvas) and forms beliefs about where and how karmic fruits will be enjoyed—some in heaven (devaloka), some in the present world—thereby remaining entangled in sorrow and striving.