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Mahābhārata • Parva 14 (Aśvamedhikaparva) • Adhyāya 18

Aśvamedhikaparva Adhyāya 18

अश्वमेधिकपर्व • अध्यायः 18

Aśvamedhikaparva Adhyāya 18 of the classical Mahābhārata with 35 verses.

Total: 35 Verses • Citations: MBh 14.18.1–35 • 250 Lexicon Terms
शुभानामशुभानां च नेह नाशोऽस्ति कर्मणाम् । प्राप्य प्राप्य तु पच्यन्ते क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रं तथा तथा ॥
English Translation
The Brahmana said The acts, good and bad, that the Individual Soul, docs are not subject 10 destruction. Upon attainment of body after body, those deeds yield fruits corresponding with then.
यथा प्रसूयमानस्तु फली दद्यात्फलं बहु । तथा स्याद्विपुलं पुण्यं शुद्धेन मनसा कृतम् ॥
English Translation
As a fruit bearing tree, when the scason for production comes, yields a large quantity of fruit, merit, achieved with a pure heart, likewise yields a large measure of happiness.
पापं चापि तथैव स्यात्पापेन मनसा कृतम् । पुरोधाय मनो हीह कर्मण्यात्मा प्रवर्तते ॥
English Translation
Similarly, sin, committed with a sinful heart, produces a large quantity of misery. The Individual Soul, placing the mind a head, performs action.
यथा कर्मसमादिष्टं काममन्युसमावृतः । नरो गर्भं प्रविशति तच्चापि शृणु चोत्तरम् ॥
English Translation
Hear then how the Individual Soul, cquipped with all his deeds and overwhelmed with lust and anger, enters the womb.
शुक्रं शोणितसंसृष्टं स्त्रिया गर्भाशयं गतम् । क्षेत्रं कर्मजमाप्नोति शुभं वा यदि वाशुभम् ॥
English Translation
The vital seed, mixed with blood, enters the womb of females and becomes the held (of the Individual Soul), good or bad, born of (his) deeds.
सौक्ष्म्यादव्यक्तभावाच्च न स क्वचन सज्जते । संप्राप्य ब्रह्मणः कायं तस्मात्तद्ब्रह्म शाश्वतम् । तद्बीजं सर्वभूतानां तेन जीवन्ति जन्तवः ॥
English Translation
On account of his subtlety and the condition of being unmanifest, the Individual Soul does not become attached to anything even after coming by a body. Therefore, he is called Eternal Brahma.
स जीवः सर्वगात्राणि गर्भस्याविश्य भागशः । दधाति चेतसा सद्यः प्राणस्थानेष्ववस्थितः । ततः स्पन्दयतेऽङ्गानि स गर्भश्चेतनान्वितः ॥
English Translation
That (viz., Jiva or Brahma) is the seed of all crcatures. It is on account of Him that living creatures live. That the Individual Soul, cntering all the limbs of the foetus part by part, accepting the attribute of mind, and living within all the regions that belong to vital air, supports (life). On account of this, the foetus, becoming possessed of mind, begins to move its limbs.
यथा हि लोहनिष्यन्दो निषिक्तो बिम्बविग्रहम् । उपैति तद्वज्जानीहि गर्भे जीवप्रवेशनम् ॥
English Translation
As liquefied iron, poured (into a mould), takes the form of the mould, so is the entrance of the Individual Soul into the foetus.
लोहपिण्डं यथा वह्निः प्रविशत्यभितापयन् । तथा त्वमपि जानीहि गर्भे जीवोपपादनम् ॥
English Translation
As fire, entering a mass of iron, heats it greatly, so is the manifestation of the Individual Soul in the foetus.
यथा च दीपः शरणं दीप्यमानः प्रकाशयेत् । एवमेव शरीराणि प्रकाशयति चेतना ॥
English Translation
As a lamp, burning in a room, discovers (all things within it), so does the mind discover the different limbs of the body.
यद्यच्च कुरुते कर्म शुभं वा यदि वाशुभम् । पूर्वदेहकृतं सर्वमवश्यमुपभुज्यते ॥
English Translation
Whatever deeds, good or bad, the Individual Soul does in a former body, have certainly to be enjoyed or endured by him.
ततस्तत्क्षीयते चैव पुनश्चान्यत्प्रचीयते । यावत्तन्मोक्षयोगस्थं धर्मं नैवावबुध्यते ॥
English Translation
By such enjoyment and endurance former deeds are exhausted, and other deeds, again, accumulate, till the Individual Soul succeed in acquiring a knowledge of the duties included in that contemplation which leads to Liberation.
तत्र धर्मं प्रवक्ष्यामि सुखी भवति येन वै । आवर्तमानो जातीषु तथान्योन्यासु सत्तम ॥
English Translation
Regarding this, I shall tell you those deeds by which the individual Soul, O best of men, while passing through a repeated round of rebirths, becomes happy.
दानं व्रतं ब्रह्मचर्यं यथोक्तव्रतधारणम् । दमः प्रशान्तता चैव भूतानां चानुकम्पनम् ॥
संयमश्चानृशंस्यं च परस्वादानवर्जनम् । व्यलीकानामकरणं भूतानां यत्र सा भुवि ॥
मातापित्रोश्च शुश्रूषा देवतातिथिपूजनम् । गुरुपूजा घृणा शौचं नित्यमिन्द्रियसंयमः ॥
प्रवर्तनं शुभानां च तत्सतां वृत्तमुच्यते । ततो धर्मः प्रभवति यः प्रजाः पाति शाश्वतीः ॥
एवं सत्सु सदा पश्येत्तत्र ह्येषा ध्रुवा स्थितिः । आचारो धर्ममाचष्टे यस्मिन्सन्तो व्यवस्थिताः ॥
English Translation
Such conduct one would always see among good persons. Indeed, such conduct lives there for good. That course of practices which persons of tranquil souls follow, indicates Virtue.
तेषु तद्धर्मनिक्षिप्तं यः स धर्मः सनातनः । यस्तं समभिपद्येत न स दुर्गतिमाप्नुयात् ॥
English Translation
Among them is thrown that course of practices which forms eternal Virtue. He who would follow virtue would never have to come by a miserable end.
अतो नियम्यते लोकः प्रमुह्य धर्मवर्त्मसु । यस्तु योगी च मुक्तश्च स एतेभ्यो विशिष्यते ॥
English Translation
It is by the conduct of the good that the world is restrained in the paths of Virtue when it falls away, He who is a Yogin is Liberated, and is, therefore, distinguished above these (viz., the good).
वर्तमानस्य धर्मेण पुरुषस्य यथा तथा । संसारतारणं ह्यस्य कालेन महता भवेत् ॥
English Translation
Deliverance from the world occurs, after a long time, of one who acts righteously and well on every occasion as he should.
एवं पूर्वकृतं कर्म सर्वो जन्तुर्निषेवते । सर्वं तत्कारणं येन निकृतोऽयमिहागतः ॥
English Translation
A living creature thus always meets with his pristine deeds. All these deeds form the cause in consequence of which he comes into this world in a state different from his true form.
शरीरग्रहणं चास्य केन पूर्वं प्रकल्पितम् । इत्येवं संशयो लोके तच्च वक्ष्याम्यतः परम् ॥
English Translation
There is a doubt in the world about this question. By what was the acceptance (by the individual Soul) of a body first determined.
शरीरमात्मनः कृत्वा सर्वभूतपितामहः । त्रैलोक्यमसृजद्ब्रह्मा कृत्स्नं स्थावरजङ्गमम् ॥
English Translation
Having first formed a body of his own, the Grandfather of all the worlds viz., Brahman, then created the three worlds, of mobile and immobile creatures.
ततः प्रधानमसृजच्चेतना सा शरीरिणाम् । यया सर्वमिदं व्याप्तं यां लोके परमां विदुः ॥
English Translation
Having first himself taken a body, he then created Pradhana. That Pradhana is the material cause of all embodied creatures, by whom is all this covered, and whom all came to know as the greatest.
इह तत्क्षरमित्युक्तं परं त्वमृतमक्षरम् । त्रयाणां मिथुनं सर्वमेकैकस्य पृथक्पृथक् ॥
English Translation
This which is seen is said to be destructible; while the other is immortal and indestructible. This which (is seen) is said to be Kshara (the destructible); that, however, which is the other is the Iminortal (as also) Akshara (the Indestructible). Of each Purusha taken separately, the whole is duality among these three.
असृजत्सर्वभूतानि पूर्वसृष्टः प्रजापतिः । स्थावराणि च भूतानि इत्येषा पौर्विकी श्रुतिः ॥
English Translation
Seen first (to appear in an embodied form). Prajapati (then) created all the primal elements and all immobile creatures. This is the ancient Shruti.
तस्य कालपरीमाणमकरोत्स पितामहः । भूतेषु परिवृत्तिं च पुनरावृत्तिमेव च ॥
English Translation
Of that (acceptance of body), thc Grandfather put down a limit about time, and migrations among various creatures and return or re-birth.
यथात्र कश्चिन्मेधावी दृष्टात्मा पूर्वजन्मनि । यत्प्रवक्ष्यामि तत्सर्वं यथावदुपपद्यते ॥
English Translation
All that I say is proper and correct, as a person who has intelligence and who has seen his Soul, would say on this subject of previous births.
सुखदुःखे सदा सम्यगनित्ये यः प्रपश्यति । कायं चामेध्यसंघातं विनाशं कर्मसंहितम् ॥
English Translation
That person who considers pleasure and pain as inconstant, which, indced, is the correct view, who regards the body as an unholy collection, and destruction as ordained in action, and who remembers that what little of pleasure there is, is really all pain, will succeed in crossing this terrible ocean of worldly migration which is so difficult to cross.
यच्च किंचित्सुखं तच्च सर्वं दुःखमिति स्मरन् । संसारसागरं घोरं तरिष्यति सुदुस्तरम् ॥
English Translation
That person who considers pleasure and pain as inconstant, which, indced, is the correct view, who regards the body as an unholy collection, and destruction as ordained in action, and who remembers that what little of pleasure there is, is really all pain, will succeed in crossing this terrible ocean of worldly migration which is so difficult to cross.
जातीमरणरोगैश्च समाविष्टः प्रधानवित् । चेतनावत्सु चैतन्यं समं भूतेषु पश्यति ॥
English Translation
Though attacked by decrepitude and death and disease, he who understand Pradhana sees with an equal eye that Consciousness which lives in all beings gifted with Consciousness.
निर्विद्यते ततः कृत्स्नं मार्गमाणः परं पदम् । तस्योपदेशं वक्ष्यामि याथातथ्येन सत्तम ॥
English Translation
Seeking the supreme seat, he then becomes utterly indifferent to all (other) things. O best of men, I shall now deliver instruction to you, according to truth, concerning this.
शाश्वतस्याव्ययस्याथ पदस्य ज्ञानमुत्तमम् । प्रोच्यमानं मया विप्र निबोधेदमशेषतः ॥
English Translation
Do you, O learned Brahmana, understand in full what form the excellent knowledge, as I declare it, of that indestructible seat.
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