Shloka 11
Adhyāya 290: Sāṃkhya-vidhi, Deha-doṣa, Guṇa-vicāra, and Mokṣa-gati
Bhīṣma–Yudhiṣṭhira Dialogue
सौवर्ण राजतं चापि यथा भाण्डं निषिच्यते । तथा निषिच्यते जनन््तुः पूर्वकर्मवशानुग:
sauvarṇaṃ rājataṃ cāpi yathā bhāṇḍaṃ niṣicyate | tathā niṣicyate jantuḥ pūrvakarmavaśānugaḥ ||
ಹಾಗೆ ಒಂದು ಪಾತ್ರೆಗೆ ಬಂಗಾರ ಅಥವಾ ಬೆಳ್ಳಿಯ ಲೇಪನ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ ಅದು ಅದೇ ಪದಾರ್ಥದಂತೆ ಕಾಣುವದೋ, ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಜೀವಿಯೂ ಪೂರ್ವಕರ್ಮದ ವಶಕ್ಕೆ ಒಳಗಾಗಿ ಹಿಂದಿನ ಕರ್ಮಗಳ ಗುರುತಿನಿಂದ ಲಿಪ್ತನಾಗಿರುತ್ತಾನೆ.
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Past actions adhere to and shape the embodied being, just as a metallic coating changes a vessel’s appearance; merit yields happiness and demerit yields suffering, showing the ethical inevitability of karmic results.
In Śānti Parva, Parāśara is instructing through an analogy: he compares the way gold or silver plating is applied to a vessel with the way prior karma ‘covers’ a creature, explaining why beings experience pleasure or pain.