Shloka 32
अज्ञान–लोभयोः परस्परहेतुत्वम्
Mutual Causality of Ignorance and Greed
बृहस्पति देवगुरुं सुरासुरा: सर्वे समेत्याभ्यनुयुज्य राजन् । धर्म्य फलं वेत्थ फल महर्षे तथैव तस्मिन्नरके पारलोक्ये
śaunaka uvāca | bṛhaspatiṁ devaguruṁ surāsurāḥ sarve sametya abhyanuyujya rājan | dharmyaṁ phalaṁ vettha phalaṁ maharṣe tathaiva tasmin narake pāralaukye |
商那迦说道：“大王啊，曾有一次，诸天与阿修罗尽皆会集，怀着至诚恭敬，趋近天师布里哈斯帕提(Bṛhaspati)而问曰：‘大圣者啊，你知晓正法(dharma)之果，亦不昧于罪业之果在彼世所招致的地狱苦报。然而，那位瑜伽行者，对乐与苦等同视之，他是否真能战胜作为其因的福德与罪过？请为我等宣说善业之果，并告知持法之人如何灭除其罪。’”
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral-philosophical inquiry: dharma yields specific karmic fruits, sin yields painful retribution (including hell), and the key question is whether yogic equanimity—treating pleasure and pain alike—enables one to transcend or ‘conquer’ the underlying merit and demerit that generate those experiences, and how a righteous person eradicates sin.
Śaunaka recounts that the devas and asuras jointly approach Bṛhaspati with reverence and ask him to explain the results of virtue and vice, the nature of otherworldly punishment, and whether a yogin’s even-mindedness over pleasure and pain overcomes the karmic causes (puṇya and pāpa), along with practical means by which a dharmic person destroys sin.