Shloka 22
Karma, Preta-gati, and the Continuity of Phala
Mārkaṇḍeya’s Instruction
वेद्य॑ सर्प परं ब्रह्म निर्दुः:खमसुखं च यत् । यत्र गत्वा न शोचन्ति भवत: कि विवक्षितम्,सर्प! जाननेयोग्य तत्त्व तो परम ब्रह्म ही है, जो दुःख और सुखसे परे है तथा जहाँ पहुँचकर अथवा जिसे जानकर मनुष्य शोकके पार हो जाता है। बताओ, तुम्हें अब इस विषयमें क्या कहना है?
vedyaḥ sarpa paraṁ brahma nirduḥkham asukhaṁ ca yat | yatra gatvā na śocanti bhavataḥ ki vivakṣitam, sarpa ||
Wika ni Yudhiṣṭhira: “Ang dapat makilala, O ahas, ay ang Kataas-taasang Brahman—lampas sa dalamhati at lampas sa ligaya. Kapag narating (o napagtanto) ito, hindi na nagdadalamhati ang tao. Sabihin mo sa akin, O ahas: ano ang nais mong sabihin ngayon tungkol dito?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse points to the supreme Brahman as the highest knowable reality, characterized as transcending the dualities of pleasure and pain; realization of it ends grief, implying liberation through knowledge and detachment.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a serpent interlocutor and frames the discussion around ultimate knowledge: he states that realizing Brahman removes sorrow, then invites the serpent to state what further point or instruction it wishes to convey.