Shloka 6

Devanagari script

अपूर्विणा न कर्तव्यं कर्म लोके विगर्लहितम्‌ । कृतपूर्व तु त्यजतो महान्‌ धर्म इति श्रुति:

Transliteration

apūrviṇā na kartavyaṃ karma loke vigarhitam | kṛtapūrvaṃ tu tyajato mahān dharma iti śrutiḥ ||

Translation

Parāśara nói: “Chớ nên lần đầu làm một việc bị đời chê trách. Nhưng nếu ai đã từng làm điều ấy trước đây, thì từ đó về sau biết từ bỏ—thánh truyền tuyên rằng đó là một đại công đức của dharma.”

Word by Word

अपूर्विणाby one who has not done (it) before / by an inexperienced person

नnot

कर्तव्यम्is to be done / should be done

कर्मan act, deed

लोकेin the world

विगर्हितम्censured, blameworthy

कृतपूर्वम्previously done (before)

तुbut, however

त्यजतःof one who abandons / while abandoning

महान्great

धर्मःdharma, righteousness, duty

इतिthus, so (quotative)

श्रुतिःtradition; authoritative saying

Speaker

पराशर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Parāśara

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Do not initiate a socially and morally censured action; and if one has already fallen into such conduct, the truly dharmic response is to abandon it—renunciation of wrongdoing is itself praised as a great virtue.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Parāśara instructs on practical ethics: he contrasts the blame of beginning a condemned deed with the merit of reform—stopping a previously committed wrong—grounding the point in recognized sacred authority (śruti).