Shloka 17

अध्याय २९७ — श्रेयः, धृति, दान-नियमाः

Welfare, Steadfastness, and Norms of Giving

Devanagari script

भावितं कर्मयोगेन जायते तत्र तत्र ह । इदं शरीर वैदेह ग्रियते यत्र यत्र ह । तत्स्वभावो<परो दृष्टो विसर्ग: कर्मणस्तथा,विदेहराज! यह शरीर जिस किसी स्थानमें मृत्युको प्राप्त हो जाता है; फिर प्रारब्धकर्मके योगसे भावित होकर जहाँ-कहीं भी जन्म ले लेता है। कर्मोका फलस्वरूप यह स्वभावसिद्ध पुनर्जन्म देखा गया है

Transliteration

bhāvitaṁ karmayogena jāyate tatra tatra ha | idaṁ śarīra vaideha mriyate yatra yatra ha | tat-svabhāvo 'paro dṛṣṭo visargaḥ karmaṇas tathā ||

Translation

Wahai Vaideha, makhluk berjasad ini—yang dibentuk oleh disiplin dan pertalian karma—lahir berulang-ulang di pelbagai tempat. Tubuh ini mati di mana jua; kemudian, didorong oleh takdir karma yang telah masak (prārabdha), ia mengambil kelahiran di tempat lain. Demikianlah kelahiran semula terlihat sebagai suatu “pelepasan” yang alami dan tak terelakkan, lahir daripada perbuatan sendiri dan hasilnya.

Word by Word

• {'bhāvitam': 'formed, conditioned, brought to maturity (by prior causes)', 'karmayogena': 'through the connection/operation of karma

• by the causal linkage of action', 'jāyate': 'is born, comes into existence', 'tatra tatra': 'here and there

• in various places/conditions', 'ha': 'indeed (emphatic particle)', 'idaṁ śarīram': 'this body', 'vaideha': 'O Vaideha

• epithet of the king of Videha (Janaka)', 'mriyate': 'dies', 'yatra yatra': 'wherever', 'tat-svabhāvaḥ': 'that very nature

• its inherent character', 'aparaḥ': 'another, further (i.e., subsequent state)', 'dṛṣṭaḥ': 'is observed/seen', 'visargaḥ': 'emission, projection, sending forth

• here: the onward movement into another birth', 'karmaṇaḥ': 'of karma

• arising from action (and its fruition)', 'tathā': 'thus, in that manner'}

Speaker

पराशर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Parāśara
• Vaideha (King of Videha, Janaka)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Death ends a particular body, not the causal stream of karma. Actions (and their ripened results) condition the next birth; therefore rebirth is presented as a natural consequence of karma rather than a random event.

What is happening in the narrative?

Parāśara addresses Vaideha (Janaka), explaining the mechanism of saṁsāra: the body dies wherever it is, and the being—conditioned by karmic causality—arises again elsewhere, showing the observable pattern of transmigration driven by karma.