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:

Transliteration

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

Translation

வியாசர் கூறினார்—மனத்தின் தன்னிச்சை வேகத்தால் தூண்டப்பட்டு, ஸ்வயம்பூ நிர்ணயித்த தர்மத்தின் பத்துவகை எல்லைகளை இங்கே உடைப்பவன், அந்தப் பாவி பித்ருலோகத்தின் வனப்பகுதிக்குள் நுழைந்து அசிபத்ரவனத்தில் மிகுந்த துயரத்தில் வாழ்கிறான்.

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.