Shloka 29
Jñāna-yoga and Karma-phala: Manu–Bṛhaspati on Akṣara and the Limits of Mantra
पापी मनुष्यका पापके द्वारा छिपाया हुआ पाप पुनः उसे पापमें ही लगाता है और धर्मात्माका धर्मतः गुप्त रक्खा हुआ धर्म उसे पुनः धर्ममें ही प्रवृत्त करता है ।।
pāpaṁ kṛtaṁ na smaratīha mūḍho vivartamānasya tad eti kartuḥ | rāhur yathā candram upaiti cāpi tathābudhaḥ pāpam upaiti karma ||
ビーシュマは言った。「迷える者は、自ら犯した罪を思い出さぬ。だが悪に身を委ねて歩み続けるかぎり、その罪は必ず行為者のもとへ帰って来る。羅睺が自ずから月へと迫るように、己の業より生じた罪もまた、愚者に近づき、ついには彼を捕らえる。隠そうと忘れようと、道徳の因果は消えない。行いは還り、未来の振る舞いと運命を形づくるのである。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sin is not neutralized by being forgotten or hidden; it inevitably returns to its agent. Persisting in wrongdoing draws its consequences closer, just as Rāhu inevitably approaches the moon.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on righteous conduct, Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira about moral causality. He uses the well-known image of Rāhu eclipsing the moon to illustrate how one’s own misdeeds pursue and overtake the wrongdoer.