Shloka 29

Brahma-vidyā: Satya–Tapas and the Enumeration of Tattvas

Arjuna–Vāsudeva framed dialogue

Devanagari script

कथं कर्म क्रियात्‌ साधु कथं मुच्येत किल्बिषात्‌ । के नो मार्गा: शिवाश्र स्यु: कि सत्यं कि च दुष्कृतम्‌,'श्रेष्ठ कर्म किस प्रकार करना चाहिये? मनुष्य पापसे किस प्रकार छूटता है? कौन-से मार्ग हमारे लिये कल्याणकारक हैं? सत्य क्या है? और पाप क्या है?

Transliteration

kathaṁ karma kriyāt sādhu kathaṁ mucyeta kilbiṣāt | ke no mārgāḥ śivāśrasyuḥ ki satyaṁ ki ca duṣkṛtam ||

Translation

Vāyu-deva said: “How should one perform action rightly? How does a person become freed from sin? Which paths are auspicious and welfare-bringing for us? What is truth, and what is wrongdoing?”

Word by Word

कथम्how?

कर्मaction, deed

क्रियात्should do / may perform

साधुwell, properly

कथम्how?

मुच्येतwould be released / should be freed

किल्बिषात्from sin, from fault

केwhich? what (plural)?

नःof us / our

मार्गाःpaths, ways

शिवाःauspicious, beneficial

स्युःmight be / should be

किम्what?

सत्यम्truth

किम्what?

चand

दुष्कृतम्evil deed, sin

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vāyu-deva

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a classic dharma-inquiry: right performance of action (karma), release from moral fault (kilbiṣa), identification of auspicious life-paths (śiva-mārga), and discernment between truth (satya) and wrongdoing (duṣkṛta). It sets up ethical discrimination and disciplined conduct as the means to purification and welfare.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Ashvamedhika Parva, Vāyu-deva speaks in a questioning mode, seeking clarification on proper conduct and moral categories—how to act well, how sin is removed, which ways are beneficial, and how to distinguish truth from evil—thereby prompting an ensuing instruction on dharma.