Shloka 28
Karma-vāda Critiqued, Varṇāśrama Reframed, and the Soul’s Distinction from the Body
यद्यधर्मरत: सङ्गादसतां वाजितेन्द्रिय: । कामात्मा कृपणो लुब्ध: स्त्रैणो भूतविहिंसक: ॥ २७ ॥ पशूनविधिनालभ्य प्रेतभूतगणान् यजन् । नरकानवशो जन्तुर्गत्वा यात्युल्बणं तम: ॥ २८ ॥ कर्माणि दु:खोदर्काणि कुर्वन् देहेन तै: पुन: । देहमाभजते तत्र किं सुखं मर्त्यधर्मिण: ॥ २९ ॥
yady adharma-rataḥ saṅgād asatāṁ vājitendriyaḥ kāmātmā kṛpaṇo lubdhaḥ straiṇo bhūta-vihiṁsakaḥ
ဝေဒဗిధိကို ချိုးဖောက်၍ မမှန်ကန်သောနည်းဖြင့် သတ္တဝါများကို သတ်ဖြတ်ကာ ပရိတ်နှင့် ဘူတတို့ကို ပူဇော်သူ မောဟဝင်သော ဇီဝသည် နရကများသို့ ကျရောက်၍ ကြောက်မက်ဖွယ် အမှောင်ကို ရောက်ပြီး၊ တမောဂုဏ်ထူထပ်သော ကိုယ်ခန္ဓာကို ရရှိသည်။
In the Vedic analysis of civilized life there are two paths. One who takes to the path of nivṛtti-mārga immediately renounces material sense gratification and purifies his existence by performance of austerity and devotional activities. On the path of pravṛtti-mārga one furnishes a steady supply of sense objects to the senses, but one consumes such sense objects under strict regulations and through ritualistic ceremonies, thus gradually purifying the heart and satiating the material senses. Unfortunately, as explained in this and the previous verse, the path of pravṛtti-mārga is extremely volatile because rather than becoming detached, the living entity often becomes uncontrolled and fully addicted to further sense gratification. In the previous verse the path of regulated, authorized sense gratification was described, and in this verse the path of unauthorized, demoniac sense gratification is described.
FAQs
This verse says that association with the wicked can push a person into adharma, causing loss of self-control and leading to lust, greed, and violence toward living beings.
In the Uddhava Gita, Krishna instructs Uddhava on dharma and spiritual life, warning how degraded association corrupts character and binds one deeper in karma.
Choose uplifting company, regulate the senses (food, speech, sexuality), and practice compassion and non-violence—these directly counter the downward pull described in the verse.