ब्राह्मण उवाच

कथं संभवते योनौ कथं वा पुण्यपापयोः | जातीः पुण्या ह्यपुण्याश्च कथं गच्छति सत्तम ||

Asks the ब्राह्मण! How does आत्मा take its birth and how does it become attached to पुण्य and अपुण्य? O great one! How does it come to belong to a person with पुण्य character and another with अपुण्य character?

व्याध उवाच

गर्भाधानसमायुक्तं कर्मेदं संप्रदृश्यते | समासेन तु ते क्षिप्रं प्रवक्ष्यामि द्विजोत्तम ||

यथा संभृतसंभारः पुनरेव प्रजायते | शुभकृच्छुभयोनीषु पापकृत्पापयोनिषु ||

Replies व्याध – This mystery belongs to the subject of procreation but I shall briefly describe to you. O द्विजोत्तम! The आत्मा is born again with its accumulated load of कर्म, one who does शुभ कर्म takes birth as a शुभ person and one who does अशुभ कर्म takes birth as an अशुभ person.

शुभैः प्रयोगैर्देवत्वं व्यामिश्रैर्मानुषो भवेत् | मोहनीयैर्वियोनीषु त्वधोगामी च किल्बिषैः ||

By performing only शुभ कर्म, it (आत्मा) attains to the लोक of देवता. By a combination of good and bad कर्म, it acquires the लोक of human beings and by indulging in sensual and similar vicious propensities, it is born as animals and by its पाप कर्म, it goes to नरक लोक. 

जातिमृत्युजरादुःखैः सततं समभिद्रुतः | संसारे पच्यमानश्च दोषैरात्मकृतैर्नरः ||

Afflicted by दुःख relating to birth, death and old age, a human being is destined to rot here (on Earth) from the दोष of his own कर्म (in previous lives). 

तिर्यग्योनिसहस्राणि गत्वा नरकमेव च | जीवाः संपरिवर्तन्ते कर्मबन्धनिबन्धनाः ||

Passing through नरक लोक and many various births, our आत्मा bound by the bonds of their own कर्म keep travelling (for everlasting time). 

जन्तुस्तु कर्मभिस्तैस्तैः स्वकृतैः प्रेत्य दुःखितः | तद्दुःखप्रतिघातार्थमपुण्यां योनिमश्नुते ||

All animate creatures become miserable life after life from their own कर्म and as a result of those miseries, they are again born in lower life forms. 

ततः कर्म समादत्ते पुनरन्यन्नवं बहु | पच्यते तु पुनस्तेन भुक्त्वापथ्यमिवातुरः ||

Then they accumulate a new stock of कर्म and consequently they suffer miseries again and again just as a diseased man eats unwholesome food. 

अजस्रमेव दुःखार्तोऽदुःखितः सुखसंज्ञितः | ततोऽनिवृत्तबन्धत्वात्कर्मणामुदयादपि ||

Although they are afflicted with दुःख, they consider themselves to be very experiencing सुख and feel comfortable; and consequently their bonds of कर्म are not loosened and new कर्म stock keeps arising again. 

परिक्रामति संसारे चक्रवद्बहुवेदनः | स चेन्निवृत्तबन्धस्तु विशुद्धश्चापि कर्मभिः ||

तपोयोगसमारम्भ कुरुते द्विजसत्तम। कर्मभिर्बहुभिश्चापि लोकानश्नाति मानव:।।

Suffering from various miseries (to be understood as limited lives), they turn in this word like a wheel. If they cast off their bonds (of कर्म) and if they purify themselves from their actions, if they perform तप and योग, by these acts, they can attain the regions of bliss. 

स चेन्निवृत्तबन्धस्तु विशुद्धश्चापि कर्मभिः| प्राप्नोति सुकृताँल्लोकान्यत्र गत्वा न शोचति ||

By casting off their bonds of कर्म and by purifying कर्म, men attain those regions of bliss where misery is unknown.

पापं कुर्वन्पापवृत्तः पापस्यान्तं न गच्छति | तस्मात्पुण्यं यतेत्कर्तुं वर्जयेत च पातकम् ||

A पाप oriented man addicted to पापकर्म never comes to the end of the course of inequities. Therefore, we must abandon पापकर्म and take to पुण्यकर्म.

अनसूयुः कृतज्ञश्च कल्याणान्येव सेवते | सुखानि धर्ममर्थं च स्वर्गं च लभते नरः || 

Those whose hearts are कृतज्ञ (filled of gratitude) and free from jealousy try to do what is धर्म, obtain wealth, धर्म, सुख and स्वर्ग. 

संस्कृतस्य हि दान्तस्य नियतस्य यतात्मनः | प्राज्ञस्यानन्तरा वृत्तिरिह लोके परत्र च ||

Those who are wise, forgiving, cultured and self-controlled enjoy सुख both in this लोक as well as the next लोक.

सतां धर्मेण वर्तेत क्रियां शिष्टवदाचरेत् | असंक्लेशेन लोकस्य वृत्तिं लिप्सेत वै द्विज || 

सन्ति ह्यागतविज्ञानाः शिष्टाः शास्त्रविचक्षणाः | स्वधर्मेण क्रिया लोके कर्मणः सोऽप्यसंकरः ||

O ब्राह्मण! Man must always act with धर्म and with disciplined conduct and in his acts, he must imitate those who lead lives of धर्म. There are people aligned to धर्म who are learned in शास्त्र and conversant with rules of disciplined conduct (given in these texts). Every person must be familiar with what his स्वधर्म is and must not be confused and mixed up. 

प्राज्ञो धर्मेण रमते धर्मं चैवोपजीवति | तस्य धर्मादवाप्तेषु धनेषु द्विजसत्तम ||

तस्यैव सिञ्चते मूलं गुणान्पश्यति यत्र वै | धर्मात्मा भवति ह्येवं चित्तं चास्य प्रसीदति ||

A wise man lives by धर्म and enjoys living a life of धर्म. O द्विजसत्तम! Such a person with a wealth of धर्म which he thus acquires waters the root of the plant (of धर्म) in which he finds the highest presence of धर्म. By acting in this manner, the one aligned to धर्म becomes calm. 

स मैत्रजनसंतुष्ट इह प्रेत्य च नन्दति | शब्दं स्पर्शं तथा रूपं गन्धानिष्टांश्च सत्तम || 

प्रभुत्वं लभते चापि धर्मस्यैतत्फलं विदुः | धर्मस्य च फलं लब्ध्वा न तृप्यति महाद्विज ||

He is pleased with his friends in this लोक and he also enjoys happiness in the next लोक. O सत्तम! Know that those aligned to धर्म attain sovereignty over all and obtain (the pleasure) of शब्द, स्पर्श, रस, रूप and गंध according to their choice. O ब्राह्मण, (however, such an enlightened) person is not satisfied with such फल of धर्म (that he has obtained). 

अतृप्यमाणो निर्वेदमादत्ते ज्ञानचक्षुषा | प्रज्ञाचक्षुर्नर इह दोषं नैवानुरुध्यते || 

विरज्यति यथाकामं न च धर्मं विमुञ्चति | सर्वत्यागे च यतते दृष्ट्वा लोकं क्षयात्मकम् || 

ततो मोक्षे प्रयतते नानुपायादुपायतः | एवं निर्वेदमादत्ते पापं कर्म जहाति च || 

Not satisfied with such फल, he with the eyes of ज्ञान becomes indifferent to pain and pleasure; the worldly ideas of काम cannot influence this person. Of his own free will, this person becomes indifferent to all worldly pursuits but does not give up धर्म. Observing everything in the world as transcient, he tries to renounce everything and not resting on mere chance, he devises means to attain मोक्ष. Thus, does he give up all worldly pursuits and avoids doing पापकर्म. 

धार्मिकश्चापि भवति मोक्षं च लभते परम् | तपो निःश्रेयसं जन्तोस्तस्य मूलं शमो दमः || 

This person thus becomes aligned to धर्म and thus finally attains मोक्ष. तप is ultimately benefiical for attaining मोक्ष and शम (control of external conduct) and दम (control of the movement of मन and बुद्धि) are its (तप’s) roots.

तेन सर्वानवाप्नोति कामान्यान्मनसेच्छति | इन्द्रियाणां निरोधेन सत्येन च दमेन च | ब्रह्मणः पदमाप्नोति यत्परं द्विजसत्तम ||

By this means, he obtains all objects of what he seeks. By subduing senses and by means of adherence to सत्य and दम, O द्विजसत्तम, he obtains the supreme state of ब्रह्म. 

Source:

Translation of Mahabharata by MN Dutt

Sanskrit Shloka from https://bombay.indology.info/mahabharata/text/UD/MBh03.txt