Shloka 21
उशनसः (शुक्रस्य) चरितम् — The Account of Uśanā (Śukra): Yoga, Grievance, and Pacification
इस प्रकार मैंने सभी जीवोंको जन्म-मरणके चक््करमें पड़ा हुआ देखा है। शास्त्रका भी ऐसा सिद्धान्त है कि जैसा कर्म होता है, वैसा ही फल मिलता है ।।
tiryag gacchanti narakaṁ mānuṣyaṁ daivam eva ca | sukhaduḥkhe priye dveṣye caritvā pūrvam eva ha ||
Sinabi ni Bhishma: “Sa gayon, nakita ko ang lahat ng nilalang na nabibitag sa ikot ng kapanganakan at kamatayan. Ito rin ang aral ng mga śāstra: kung paano kumilos ang tao, gayon din ang bunga. Matapos nang maglakbay sa ligaya at sakit, sa minamahal at kinapopootan, ang mga nilalang—ayon sa kanilang mga gawa—napupunta sa impiyerno, sa kapanganakang-hayop, sa kapanganakang-tao, o sa kapanganakang-diyos.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches karmic retribution within saṁsāra: beings experience pleasure/pain and dear/hateful objects, and then—according to their actions—attain different destinations such as hell, animal birth, human birth, or divine birth. Moral causality (karma → phala) governs transmigration.
In the Śānti Parva instruction, Bhīṣma is advising on dharma and the workings of karma. He frames his counsel as both personal observation and śāstric doctrine, explaining how embodied beings move through various realms based on prior conduct.