Shloka 11
Adhyāya 290: Sāṃkhya-vidhi, Deha-doṣa, Guṇa-vicāra, and Mokṣa-gati
Bhīṣma–Yudhiṣṭhira Dialogue
सौवर्ण राजतं चापि यथा भाण्डं निषिच्यते । तथा निषिच्यते जनन््तुः पूर्वकर्मवशानुग:
sauvarṇaṃ rājataṃ cāpi yathā bhāṇḍaṃ niṣicyate | tathā niṣicyate jantuḥ pūrvakarmavaśānugaḥ ||
Sinabi ni Parāśara: “Kung paanong ang isang sisidlan ay binabalutan ng patong na ginto o pilak at dahil dito’y nagmumukhang yari sa mismong sangkap na iyon, gayon din ang nilalang ay ‘nababalutan’ ng naunang gawa. Nakatali sa lakas ng dating mga gawa, nananatiling may tatak ang tao ng kanyang nagawa—nakararanas ng ligaya kapag nababalutan ng kabutihang-loob (merito), at nagdurusa kapag nababalutan ng kasalanan.”
पराशर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Past actions adhere to and shape the embodied being, just as a metallic coating changes a vessel’s appearance; merit yields happiness and demerit yields suffering, showing the ethical inevitability of karmic results.
In Śānti Parva, Parāśara is instructing through an analogy: he compares the way gold or silver plating is applied to a vessel with the way prior karma ‘covers’ a creature, explaining why beings experience pleasure or pain.