Shloka 12
Prāyaścitta-vidhāna: Tapas, Dāna, Vrata, and Proportional Expiation (प्रायश्चित्तविधानम्)
द्विविधौ चाप्युभावेतौ धर्माधर्मा विजानताम् | अप्रवृत्ति: प्रवृत्तिश्न द्वैविध्य॑ लोकवेदयो:
dvividhau cāpy ubhāv etau dharmādharmau vijānatām | apravṛttiḥ pravṛttiś ca dvaividhyaṃ lokavedayoḥ ||
毗耶娑说道：“对真正明了之人而言，法（dharma）与非法（adharma）各有两类，随处所与时势而变。又如‘不作’（止、避）与‘作’（行、为）亦各有两分：一为世间之道，一为吠陀之道——于是有世间的止与世间的行，也有吠陀的止与吠陀的行。”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma and adharma cannot be judged in a single, rigid way; they are understood as twofold when viewed through differences of place and time, and also through the distinction between worldly norms (loka) and Vedic/scriptural injunctions (veda). Similarly, both abstention (apravṛtti) and engagement (pravṛtti) have worldly and Vedic forms.
Vyāsa is instructing the listener in the Śānti Parva’s ethical discourse, refining how moral categories should be interpreted: action and restraint, and even dharma versus adharma, must be evaluated with attention to context and to the differing authorities of social practice and Vedic teaching.