Shloka 15
Brāhmaṇa-māhātmya: Tārkṣya’s instruction on tapas, satya, and svadharma
Chapter 182
जातो जातश्न बलवद् भुड्क्ते चात्मा स देहवान् । फलार्थस्तात निष्पृक्त: प्रजापालनभावन:,तात! प्रयोजनवश वही यह जीव इन्हीं तीन गतियोंमें भटकता रहता है। कर्मफलको चाहनेवाला देहाभिमानी जीव परवशतासे बार-बार जन्म लेता और दुःख-सुखका उपभोग करता है। किंतु तात! जो कर्मफलमें आसक्त नहीं है, वह प्रजाजनोंके पालनकी भावनावाला द्विज अपने आत्माको नित्य परब्रह्म परमात्मामें भलीभाँति स्थित कर देता है
jāto jātaś ca balavān bhuṅkte cātmā sa dehavān | phalārthas tāta niṣpṛktaḥ prajā-pālana-bhāvanaḥ ||
The serpent said: “Born again and again, the embodied self—driven by its own force of habit—repeatedly experiences (the results of action). O dear one, the person who acts for the sake of fruits, identifying with the body, comes under dependence and is born time after time, tasting both sorrow and joy. But, O dear one, the twice-born who is not attached to the fruits of action, and who is intent on the welfare and protection of beings, firmly establishes his self in the eternal Supreme Brahman.”
सर्प उवाच
Educational Q&A
Attachment to the fruits of action, coupled with body-identification, keeps the self bound to repeated birth and the alternating experience of pleasure and pain. Freedom comes through non-attachment to results and a dharmic orientation toward the welfare/protection of beings, by which one becomes established in the Supreme Brahman.
A serpent is instructing the listener in a moral-philosophical reflection: it contrasts the fate of the fruit-seeking, embodied agent—who remains dependent and reborn—with the fruitless (unattached) twice-born who acts for the protection of people and thereby attains steady establishment in Brahman.