Shloka 48
Adhyāya 302: Guṇa-vicāra, Gati-bheda, and the Imperishable State
Yājñavalkya–Janaka
निष्कैवल्येन पापेन तिर्यग्योनिमवाप्नुयात् । पुण्यपापेन मानुष्यं पुण्येनेकेन देवता:
niṣkaivalyena pāpena tiryagyoniṃ avāpnuyāt | puṇyapāpena mānuṣyaṃ puṇyenaikena devatāḥ ||
唯以纯粹恶业者，堕入畜生之胎（tiryagyoni）。善恶杂糅者，得生为人；唯以纯粹善业者，得至天神之位。
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a karmic hierarchy of rebirth: purely sinful conduct results in animal birth, mixed merit and sin yields human birth, and purely meritorious conduct leads to divine birth. It emphasizes ethical responsibility by linking one’s moral choices to future states of existence.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, the sage Vasiṣṭha is explaining principles of karma and rebirth. He summarizes how different moral compositions of action (sin-only, mixed, merit-only) correspond to different destinations (animal, human, divine).