Shloka 48

Devanagari script

येन खट्वां समारूढ: कर्मणानुशयी भवेत्‌ | आदितस्तन्न कर्तव्यमिच्छता भवमात्मन:

Transliteration

yena khaṭvāṃ samārūḍhaḥ karmaṇānuśayī bhavet | āditas tan na kartavyam icchatā bhavam ātmanaḥ ||

Translation

ज्या कर्मामुळे मनुष्य शेवटी खाटेवर पडूनही कर्मानुशयाने बांधला राहतो, आत्मकल्याण इच्छिणाऱ्याने ते कर्म आरंभापासूनच करू नये.

Word by Word

येनby which

खट्वाम्a bed/cot

समारूढःhaving mounted/ascended

कर्मणाby action/deed

अनुशयीone who lies/follows after; attendant, clinging

भवेत्would become

आदितःfrom the beginning/at the outset

तत्that (act/thing)

नnot

कर्तव्यम्to be done/should be done

इच्छताby one who desires

भवम्worldly existence; becoming

आत्मनःof oneself

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

Nārada

khaṭvā (cot/bed)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Choose actions from the outset that do not leave a lingering karmic residue; a person seeking true self-welfare should avoid deeds that will bind the mind with regret, attachment, or unresolved consequences at life’s end.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s didactic setting, Nārada delivers counsel on right conduct: he warns that actions leading to bondage and ‘deathbed helplessness’ with karmic remainder should be rejected at the very beginning by one intent on genuine good.