rājovāca maharṣa etad vaicitryaṁ lokasya katham iti
rājovāca
maharṣa etad vaicitryaṁ lokasya katham iti |
ṛṣir uvāca
tri-guṇatvāt kartuḥ śraddhayā karma-gatayaḥ pṛthag-vidhāḥ sarvā eva sarvasya tāratamyena bhavanti |
athedānīṁ pratiṣiddha-lakṣaṇasyādharmasya tathaiva kartuḥ śraddhāyā vaisādṛśyāt karma-phalaṁ visadṛśaṁ bhavati, yā hy anādy-avidyayā kṛta-kāmānāṁ tat-pariṇāma-lakṣaṇāḥ sṛtayaḥ sahasraśaḥ pravṛttāḥ, tāsāṁ prācuryeṇānuvarṇayiṣyāmaḥ |
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.26.1–3)
“The king said: ‘O great seer, why does the world have this variegatedness?’
“The seer said, ‘The destinations [reached by way] of actions are of different types in accord with the conviction (śraddhā) of the agent [of the actions] on account of [agents and their conviction’s] being constituted of the three guṇas. Indeed they all [i.e., the various destinations reached by way of actions] occur for all [agents] in a gradation. Thus, in this case in exactly the way [as a dissimilar result occurs for agents of dharma on account of a dissimilarity in their convictions (śraddhās)], a dissimilar result of an action occurs on account of the dissimilarity in the conviction (śraddhā) of an agent of adharma, the nature of which is a prohibition [in the śāstra]. I will describe extensively the thousands of determined destinations, the natures of which are transformations of [worldly] desires, for those who have acted upon those [worldly desires] as a result of beginningless (anādi) ignorance (avidyā).”