[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Epic, Poetry, Drama & Narrative](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit) › [The Mahābhārata and its versions](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata) › [The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) › 12.174 # The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 12.174: catuḥsaptatyadhikaśatatamo'dhyāyaḥ Mahābhārata 12.174 - **Language:** Sanskrit ### catuḥsaptatyadhikaśatatamo'dhyāyaḥ ### [12.174.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.1) yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | yadyasti dattamiṣṭaṃ vā tapastaptaṃ tathaiva ca | gurūṇāṃ cāpi śuśrūṣā tanme brūhi pitāmaha || 1 || > "Yudhishthira said, 'Tell me, O grandsire, if gifts, sacrifices, penances, and dutiful services returned to preceptors, are productive of wisdom and high felicity.' > — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa ### [12.174.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.2) bhīṣma uvāca | ātmanānarthayuktena pāpe niviśate manaḥ | sa karma kaluṣaṃ kṛtvā kleśe mahati dhīyate || 2 || > 'Bhishma said, 'If the mind becomes affected by desire, wrath and other evil passions, it then runs towards sin. If one's acts are stained by sin, one is obliged to dwell in painful regions. Sinful men take birth in indigent circumstances and repeatedly suffer the pangs of famine, woe, fear, and death. Those that are virtuous in their acts, and possessed of faith, and that have their senses under control, become born as affluent men and repeatedly sport in festivities and heaven and happiness. Unbelievers, with their arms manacled, are sent to regions rendered inaccessible by carnivorous beasts and elephants and full of terrors in consequence of snakes and robbers. What more need be said of them? They, on the other hand, who have reverence for gods and guests, who are liberal, who are fond of good and honest men, go, in consequence of their acts of charity, along that happy way which belongs to persons of cleansed souls. They that have no reverence for virtue are as vile among men as seedless grains among corn or the gnat among birds. That which is ordained in consequence of the acts of a past life pursues the actor even if the latter strives his best for leaving it behind. It sleeps when he sleeps and does whatever else he does. Like his shadow it rests when he rests, proceeds when he proceeds, and acts when he acts. Whatever acts a man does he has certainly to obtain the fruits thereof. Death is dragging all creatures who are surely destined to fall (into orders of existence they deserve) and who are surely 'liable to enjoy or suffer that which has been ordained as the consequence of their acts. The acts of a past life develop their consequences in their own proper time even as flowers and fruits, without extraneous efforts of any kind, never fail to appear when their proper time comes. After the consequences, as ordained, of the acts of a past life, have been exhausted (by enjoyment or sufferings), honour and disgrace, gain and loss, decay and growth, no longer flow or appear in respect of any one. This happens repeatedly. A creature while still in the mother's womb enjoys or suffers the happiness or the misery that has been ordained for him in consequence of his own acts. In childhood or youth or old age, at whatever period of life one does an act good or bad, the consequences thereof are sure to visit him in his next life at precisely the same period. As a calf recognises and approaches its parent in the midst of even a thousand kine, even so the acts of a past life recognise and visit the doer in his new life. Washed in water a (dirty) piece of cloth becomes clean. Similarly, men burning in repentance obtain endless happiness by proper penances. Those that can take up their residence in the woods and by performing austerities for a long period can wash themselves of their sins, succeed in obtaining the objects on which they set their hearts. As no one can mark the track of birds in the sky or of fishes in the water, similarly, the track of persons whose souls have been cleansed by knowledge cannot be marked by any. There is no need of any more eloquence or any more reference to sinful acts. Suffice it to say that one should, with proper judgment and as befits one best, do what is for one's good. This is the means by which wisdom and high felicity may be achieved.'" > — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa ### [12.174.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.3) durbhikṣādeva durbhikṣaṃ kleśātkleśaṃ bhayādbhayam | mṛtebhyaḥ pramṛtaṃ yānti daridrāḥ pāpakāriṇaḥ || 3 || ### [12.174.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.4) utsavādutsavaṃ yānti svargātsvargaṃ sukhātsukham | śraddadhānāśca dāntāśca dhanāḍhyāḥ śubhakāriṇaḥ || 4 || ### [12.174.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.5) vyālakuñjaradurgeṣu sarpacorabhayeṣu ca | hastāvāpena gacchanti nāstikāḥ kimataḥ param || 5 || ### [12.174.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.6) priyadevātitheyāśca vadānyāḥ priyasādhavaḥ | kṣemyamātmavatāṃ mārgamāsthitā hastadakṣiṇam || 6 || ### [12.174.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.7) pulākā iva dhānyeṣu puttikā iva pakṣiṣu | tadvidhāste manuṣyeṣu yeṣāṃ dharmo na kāraṇam || 7 || ### [12.174.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.8) suśīghramapi dhāvantaṃ vidhānamanudhāvati | śete saha śayānena yena yena yathā kṛtam || 8 || ### [12.174.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.9) upatiṣṭhati tiṣṭhantaṃ gacchantamanugacchati | karoti kurvataḥ karma chāyevānuvidhīyate || 9 || ### [12.174.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.10) yena yena yathā yadyatpurā karma samācitam | tattadeva naro bhuṅkte nityaṃ vihitamātmanā || 10 || ### [12.174.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.11) svakarmaphalavikṣiptaṃ vidhānaparirakṣitam | bhūtagrāmamimaṃ kālaḥ samantātparikarṣati || 11 || ### [12.174.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.12) acodyamānāni yathā puṣpāṇi ca phalāni ca | svakālaṃ nātivartante tathā karma purākṛtam || 12 || ### [12.174.13](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.13) saṃmānaścāvamānaśca lābhālābhau kṣayodayau | pravṛttā vinivartante vidhānānte punaḥ punaḥ || 13 || ### [12.174.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.14) ātmanā vihitaṃ duḥkhamātmanā vihitaṃ sukham | garbhaśayyāmupādāya bhujyate paurvadehikam || 14 || ### [12.174.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.15) bālo yuvā ca vṛddhaśca yatkaroti śubhāśubham | tasyāṃ tasyāmavasthāyāṃ bhuṅkte janmani janmani || 15 || ### [12.174.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.16) yathā dhenusahasreṣu vatso vindati mātaram | tathā pūrvakṛtaṃ karma kartāramanugacchati || 16 || ### [12.174.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.17) samunnamagrato vastraṃ paścācchudhyati karmaṇā | upavāsaiḥ prataptānāṃ dīrghaṃ sukhamanantakam || 17 || ### [12.174.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.18) dīrghakālena tapasā sevitena tapovane | dharmanirdhūtapāpānāṃ saṃsidhyante manorathāḥ || 18 || ### [12.174.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.19) śakunīnāmivākāśe matsyānāmiva codake | padaṃ yathā na dṛśyeta tathā jñānavidāṃ gatiḥ || 19 || ### [12.174.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174.20) alamanyairupālambhaiḥ kīrtitaiśca vyatikramaiḥ | peśalaṃ cānurūpaṃ ca kartavyaṃ hitamātmanaḥ || 20 || ## Translations (1) - [The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa~en-ganguli.12.181.1) — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, English ## Commentaries (1) - [Bhāratabhāvadīpa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!nilakantha.12.181.1) — Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara 1650, Sanskrit ## Other recensions (2) - [Southern recension](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa*southern.12.179.1) — Sanskrit - [Vulgate (Nīlakaṇṭha's text)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa*vulgate.12.181.1) — Sanskrit ## Linked texts (2) - [Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana.markandeya.14.20) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Vratakhaṇḍa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.vrata.vratakhanda.1.20.p1.5) — Hemādri, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.174) · Pramāṇa