Verse 43
Then tell us what duty is· Verses 38–43
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38If you really are the ones who carry out the orders of the king of dharma, then tell us what dharma in truth is, and what the mark of wrongdoing is. 39How is punishment carried out, and what is the proper ground for it? Are all who act to be punished, or only some men among them? 40Dharma is what the Veda lays down, and wrongdoing is the reverse of it. And the Veda is Narayana himself, the self-born: so we have heard. 41It is by him that these states, made of passion and clarity and darkness, are shown forth in his own dwelling exactly as they are, by their qualities and names and workings and forms. 42The sun, fire, the sky, the wind, the cows, the moon, the two twilights and the day, the quarters, water, the earth, time and dharma: these are the witnesses of one who has a body.
43By these wrongdoing is known, and the ground for punishment is fixed. All who act deserve punishment according to what they have done.