Shloka 6

अध्याय २९४ — योगलक्षणम् तथा सांख्यपरिसंख्यानम्

Yoga Definition and Sāṃkhya Enumeration

Devanagari script

अपूर्विणा न कर्तव्यं कर्म लोके विगर्लहितम्‌ । कृतपूर्व तु त्यजतो महान्‌ धर्म इति श्रुति:

Transliteration

apūrviṇā na kartavyaṃ karma loke vigarhitam | kṛtapūrvaṃ tu tyajato mahān dharma iti śrutiḥ ||

Translation

Парашара сказал: «Не следует впервые совершать деяние, порицаемое в мире. Но если кто уже совершал такое прежде, то отказ от него впоследствии священным преданием объявляется великим деянием дхармы».

Word by Word

अपूर्विणाby one who has not done (it) before / by an inexperienced person

नnot

कर्तव्यम्is to be done / should be done

कर्मan act, deed

लोकेin the world

विगर्हितम्censured, blameworthy

कृतपूर्वम्previously done (before)

तुbut, however

त्यजतःof one who abandons / while abandoning

महान्great

धर्मःdharma, righteousness, duty

इतिthus, so (quotative)

श्रुतिःtradition; authoritative saying

Speaker

पराशर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Parāśara

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Do not initiate a socially and morally censured action; and if one has already fallen into such conduct, the truly dharmic response is to abandon it—renunciation of wrongdoing is itself praised as a great virtue.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Parāśara instructs on practical ethics: he contrasts the blame of beginning a condemned deed with the merit of reform—stopping a previously committed wrong—grounding the point in recognized sacred authority (śruti).