Verse 11.232

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

अज्ञानाद् यदि वा ज्ञानात् कृत्वा कर्म विगर्हितम् ।
तस्माद् विमुक्तिमन्विच्छन् द्वितीयं न समाचरेत् ॥ २३२ ॥

ajñānād yadi vā jñānāt kṛtvā karma vigarhitam |
tasmād vimuktimanvicchan dvitīyaṃ na samācaret || 232 ||

Either intentionally or unintentionally, if one has done a reprehensible act, he must not do it a second time, if he seeks absolution from the former.—(232)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

If after having performed the expiation for a certain misdeed, one commits the same act again, he becomes liable to a heavier expiation. It is in view of this that it is said that ‘he must not do it a second time.’

Or the words ‘he must not do it a second time’ may be taken as a declamatory assertion commendatory of the ‘renunciation of misdeeds’ enjoined before (in 130);—the sense being that ‘he shall not abandon his vow.’

Hence if one seeks absolution from the sin involved in the first transgression, he should not repeat the act. Thus what is meant is that merely by performing the expiation, one does not become freed from a sin, if he commits the same act again.

But it does not stand to reason that, the man is not. absolved from sin, both when he performs the expiation and when he does not perform it. Hence the assertion in the present, verse must be taken simply as indicating that there is heavy expiation in the case of committing the deed over again.—(232)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 11).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 11.227-233)

See Comparative notes for Verse 11.228.