Shloka 20
Adhyāya 122 — Śruta-vṛtta-yukta Brāhmaṇa and the Ethics of Dāna
Maitreya–Vyāsa Saṃvāda
न तु नाशो$स्ति पापस्य यस्त्वयोपचित: पुरा । शूद्रेणार्थप्रधानेन नृशंसेनाततायिना,तुमने पूर्वजन्ममें अर्थथरायण, नृशंस और आततायी शूद्र होकर जो पाप संचय किया था, उसका सर्वदा नाश नहीं हुआ है
na tu nāśo 'sti pāpasya yas tvayopacitaḥ purā | śūdreṇārthapradhānena nṛśaṃsenātatāyinā ||
Sinabi ni Vyāsa: “Ang kasalanang naipon mo noon ay hindi pa ganap na naglaho. Sapagkat sa isang dating kapanganakan, ikaw ay isang Śūdra, na ang pangunahing hangad ay yaman, malupit sa asal, at kumikilos bilang mananalakay; ang nalalabing bunga ng mga gawang iyon ay hindi pa lubusang nauubos.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Past actions leave moral consequences that may persist across lives; even if one changes outward circumstances, accumulated pāpa is not automatically erased and must be exhausted through appropriate fruition and ethical transformation.
Vyāsa addresses the listener with a moral diagnosis: present suffering or obstacles are traced to previously accumulated wrongdoing—specifically, a former-life pattern of wealth-first motives, cruelty, and aggressive violence—whose karmic residue has not yet been fully spent.