Shloka 30

देवतापितृप्रश्नः — Nārada at Badarīāśrama: the ultimate referent of daiva and pitṛ worship

Devanagari script

मर्यादा नियता: स्वयम्भुवा य इहेमा: प्रभिनत्ति दशगुणा मनो<नुगत्वात्‌ | निवसति भृशमसुखं पितृविषय- विपिनमवगाहा[ स पाप:,जो मनुष्य मनचाही करनेके कारण स्वायम्भुवमनुकी बाँधी हुई धर्मकी दस- प्रकारकी मर्यादाओंको तोड़ता है, वह पापात्मा पितृलोकके असिपत्रवनमें जाकर वहाँ अत्यन्त दुःख भोगता रहता है

Transliteration

maryādā niyatāḥ svayambhuvā ya ihemaḥ prabhinatti daśa-guṇā mano’nugatvāt | nivasati bhṛśam asukhaṃ pitṛ-viṣaya-vipinam avagāhya sa pāpaḥ ||

Translation

व्यास म्हणाले—जो मनाच्या स्वैर इच्छेच्या मागे लागून स्वयम्भूने ठरविलेल्या धर्माच्या दहाप्रकारच्या मर्यादा येथे मोडतो, तो पापात्मा पितृलोकाच्या वनप्रदेशात जाऊन असिपत्रवनात अत्यंत दुःख भोगीत राहतो.

Word by Word

• {'maryādāḥ': 'boundaries, limits, ordained restraints (of conduct/dharma)', 'niyatāḥ': 'fixed, regulated, laid down', 'svayambhuvā': 'by Svayambhū, the Self-born (epithet of Brahmā/Creator)', 'iha': 'here (in this world)', 'imāḥ': 'these', 'prabhinatti': 'breaks, violates, shatters', 'daśa-guṇāḥ': 'tenfold / consisting of ten aspects', 'mano’nugatvāt': 'because of following the mind

• due to mind-led self-indulgence', 'nivasati': 'dwells, remains', 'bhṛśam': 'excessively, intensely', 'asukham': 'unhappiness, suffering, misery', 'pitṛ-viṣaya': 'the realm/domain of the Pitṛs (ancestors)', 'vipinam': 'forest, wilderness', 'avagāhya': 'having entered, plunging into', 'pāpaḥ': 'a sinner

• one of sinful conduct', 'asipatravana': 'Asipatravana, the ‘forest of sword-like leaves’ (a hellish torment-region in dharma literature)'}

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa
• Svayambhū (Brahmā)
• Pitṛloka / Pitṛ-viṣaya (realm of the ancestors)
• Asipatravana

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma has divinely established limits (maryādā). When a person follows mere mental impulse and violates these tenfold restraints, the act is ethically culpable and brings severe post-mortem suffering; self-control and respect for dharmic boundaries are essential.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa is describing the consequence of breaking the Creator-ordained moral boundaries: the sinner, after death, enters the Pitṛ-realm’s dreadful forest—identified as Asipatravana—and endures intense misery there.