Shloka 23
कर्मनाशाभावः, गर्भे जीवप्रवेशः, आचारधर्मोपदेशः
Karma’s Non-Extinction, Jīva’s Entry into the Embryo, and Instruction on Conduct-Dharma
जो धर्मके अनुसार बर्ताव करता है, वह जहाँ जिस अवस्थामें हो, वहाँ उसी स्थितिमें उसको अपने कर्मानुसार उत्तम फलकी प्राप्ति होती है और वह धीरे-धीरे अधिक काल बीतनेपर संसार-सागरसे तर जाता है ।।
evaṁ pūrvakṛtaṁ karma nityaṁ jantuḥ prapadyate | sarvaṁ tatkāraṇaṁ yena vikṛto ’yam ihāgataḥ ||
行于正法者，无论身在何处、处于何境，于彼境中即随其业行而得胜妙之果；复经岁月绵长，渐次得以渡越轮回之海。是故众生恒常遭遇往昔所作之业的果报。实则正是业力为因，使此自性——虽本为不变之梵——似乎有变，而来此世受生，随其所作而受诸体验。
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Past actions (pūrvakṛta karma) inevitably bear fruit: the embodied being repeatedly meets their results. Even though the self is, in essence, changeless Brahman, embodiment and worldly experience are explained as arising due to karma—karma is presented as the operative cause for birth and the seeming transformation.
A Brahmin speaker delivers a doctrinal explanation within the Ashvamedhika Parva, emphasizing moral causality: beings experience outcomes shaped by prior deeds, and the cycle of birth in the world is linked to karma, despite the self’s ultimate unchanging nature.