Shloka 27
Purohita-Niyoga and the Brahma–Kṣatra Concord
Aila–Kaśyapa Saṃvāda
पापस्य लोको निरयो<प्रकाशो नित्यं दु:खं शोकभूयिष्ठमेव । तत्रात्मानं शोचति पापकर्म बह्वी: समा: प्रतपत्रप्रतिष्ठ:
kāśyapa uvāca | pāpasya loko nirayo 'prakāśo nityaṃ duḥkhaṃ śokabhūyiṣṭham eva | tatrātmānaṃ śocati pāpakarmā bahvīḥ samāḥ pratapatra-pratiṣṭhaḥ ||
Kāśyapa berkata: “Alam yang diperuntukkan bagi dosa adalah neraka—tanpa cahaya, senantiasa penuh derita, dan meluap oleh duka. Di sana pelaku perbuatan jahat meratapi dirinya sendiri; selama bertahun-tahun ia tersengat siksaan, tak menemukan pijakan yang tetap, dan terus-menerus dilalap kesedihan yang lahir dari dirinya.”
कश्यप उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sinful action (pāpa-karma) ripens into a painful post-mortem condition: darkness, continual suffering, and grief. The verse stresses moral causality—one’s deeds create one’s future experience—and warns that wrongdoing yields prolonged, unstable torment and self-lamentation.
In Śānti Parva’s didactic discourse, the sage Kaśyapa is speaking, describing the fate of the sinful in niraya (hell). The passage functions as ethical instruction, using vivid imagery of darkness and ceaseless sorrow to deter pāpa and encourage dharmic conduct.