Shloka 23
कर्मनाशाभावः, गर्भे जीवप्रवेशः, आचारधर्मोपदेशः
Karma’s Non-Extinction, Jīva’s Entry into the Embryo, and Instruction on Conduct-Dharma
जो धर्मके अनुसार बर्ताव करता है, वह जहाँ जिस अवस्थामें हो, वहाँ उसी स्थितिमें उसको अपने कर्मानुसार उत्तम फलकी प्राप्ति होती है और वह धीरे-धीरे अधिक काल बीतनेपर संसार-सागरसे तर जाता है ।। एवं पूर्वकृतं कर्म नित्यं जन्तु: प्रपद्यते । सर्व तत्कारणं येन विकृतोडयमिहागत:,इस प्रकार जीव सदा अपने पूर्वजन्मोंमें किये हुए कर्मॉंका फल भोगता है। यह आत्मा निर्विकार ब्रह्म होनेपर भी विकृत होकर इस जगत्में जो जन्म धारण करता है, उसमें कर्म ही कारण है
evaṁ pūrvakṛtaṁ karma nityaṁ jantuḥ prapadyate | sarvaṁ tatkāraṇaṁ yena vikṛto ’yam ihāgataḥ ||
The living being continually encounters the consequences of actions performed in the past. Indeed, it is karma that stands as the cause by which this self—though in truth the changeless Brahman—appears altered and comes to take birth here in the world, undergoing experience according to its deeds.
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Past actions (pūrvakṛta karma) inevitably bear fruit: the embodied being repeatedly meets their results. Even though the self is, in essence, changeless Brahman, embodiment and worldly experience are explained as arising due to karma—karma is presented as the operative cause for birth and the seeming transformation.
A Brahmin speaker delivers a doctrinal explanation within the Ashvamedhika Parva, emphasizing moral causality: beings experience outcomes shaped by prior deeds, and the cycle of birth in the world is linked to karma, despite the self’s ultimate unchanging nature.