Shloka 38
अव्यक्त-गुण-पुरुषविवेकः | Avyakta, Guṇas, and Discrimination of Puruṣa
भोक्तव्यानि मयैतानि देवलोकगतेन वै | इहैव चैनं भोक्ष्यामि शुभाशुभफलोदयम्
bhoaktavyāni mayaitāni devalokagatena vai | ihaiva cainaṁ bhokṣyāmi śubhāśubhaphalodayam ||
Disse Vasiṣṭha: “Ele pensa: ‘Esses resultados devem, de fato, ser experimentados por mim depois que eu for ao mundo dos deuses; e aqui mesmo experimentarei o surgir dos frutos tanto do mérito quanto do demérito.’ Assim, impelidos por Prakṛti, os opostos—prazer e dor e semelhantes—voltam a ocorrer por sua própria natureza; mas o eu encarnado, por ignorância, imagina: ‘Esses assaltos são apenas contra mim, e devo esforçar-me para escapar.’ Unido a Prakṛti, o homem iludido pensa: ‘Irei ao céu e desfrutarei os frutos de todos os meus atos; e os resultados manifestos do bem e do mal passados eu suportarei aqui.’”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights karmic causality and the delusion of personal doership: under the impulse of Prakṛti, pleasure and pain recur as natural opposites, but the ignorant self imagines ‘I alone am attacked’ and constructs plans about enjoying merit in heaven and suffering/experiencing other results here. The teaching points toward seeing these experiences as the unfolding of karma within nature, rather than as a uniquely personal assault.
Vasiṣṭha is instructing a king (addressed in the surrounding prose as ‘nareśvara’) in a reflective, philosophical mode. He describes how an embodied person, bound to Prakṛti, misinterprets the recurring experiences of life (dvandvas) and forms beliefs about where and how karmic fruits will be enjoyed—some in heaven (devaloka), some in the present world—thereby remaining entangled in sorrow and striving.